Kadhai Paneer/Indian cottage cheese with bell pepper

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The weather is getting warmer.  There is an occasional bird chirping on the tree and signs of struggling but strong sprouts peeking through my snow covered back yard. I am itching to fold the blankets and woolies and stash them away. It's about time winter called it quits and gave way to spring.  What do you say?  My eyes are sore trying to will those struggling sprouts to break free and come forth.    All this mental wait for spring coaxes me to brighten my cooking!

 So, today's recipe is adapted from the world famous Punjabi cuisine and this will surely brighten your dreary days. Rich in flavors this cuisine is a delight. Tandoori chicken, Chicken tikka, Chole-Batura, Dal makhani, Kebabs. Makki-di-roti and sarson -ka-saag to name a few are the popular ones. Milk and milk products are an important part of their cuisine and kadhai/kadai paneer is no exception. I love this recipe especially for its simplicity, unlike most other paneer recipes.

I hope you will enjoy this paneer with the dash of spring colors.



Ingredients:

Paneer cubed- 400g
Bell pepper (green-cubed)- 1/3 cup
Bell pepper (red-cubed)- 1/3 cup
Tomatoes- 3 (finely chopped)
Ginger grated- 1 Tsp
Garlic grated- 2 Tsp
Coriander powder- 2 Tsp
Red chilli powder- 1 Tsp
Kashmiri chilli powder- 1 tsp
Chopped green chillies- 2
Kasuri methi(dried fenugreek leaves)- 1 1/2 Tbsp
Salt- To taste
Oil- 1/2 cup
Chopped coriander leaves-2 Tbsp

Method:

1.Cut the paneer and bell peppers into one inch cubes.
2.Shallow fry the paneer cubes till they start turning slight golden brown.Keep aside.
3.Now throw in the bell pepper cubes into it and fry them too, for 3-4 minutes and transfer onto a kitchen tissue paper.
4.Meanwhile heat 2 Tbsp of oil in another pan and saute the ginger and garlic.
5.To this add the chopped green chillies and tomatoes, cover and cook till the oil starts separating .
6.Add in all the spice powders except kasuri methi and saute for a couple of minutes.
7.Add the kasuri methi and mix well.
8.Now add the fried paneer and bell pepper to it and mix well.
9.Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes.
10.Throw in half the chopped coriander leaves, mix well.
11.Garnish with rest of the coriander leaves, serve with roti or naan.




Contributor: Namitha

Entered in Jay's 'Relish Paneer' Event