Paneer Jalfrezi is an Indian stir-fry curry that is primarily made with paneer and assorted bell peppers. Paneer Jalfrezi is one of my favorite restaurant style dish that can whipped up in 15-20 minutes and is a perfect accompaniment for naan and roti.
We all love and enjoy a good asian style stir-fry but this paneer stir-fry is an Indian counterpart in it’s flavors and vibrance. If you are craving for panner a dish but don’t have too much time at hand then this is a great option. I hardly takes 10 mins to prep if you have all the ingredients.
Typically I like to make my Paneer at home which is turns out pretty soft and supple. But it’s not always possible to make home made paneer, so when I use store bought paneer I use this quick trick to soften my paneer for a soft texture.
I start by heating some water and soak my paneer chunk in the warm water for about 10- 15 minutes. This also helps slicing the paneer much easily. Make sure to soak the panner completely to avoid any drying.
While the Paneer is soaking, julienne the capsicums, onions, tomatoes ad the jalapeños. Also Julienne some fresh ginger for the final garnish. Julienne cut is where vegetables are cut long thin strips. Once you have all the vegetables ready to go, it’s all about stir-firing the vegetables, panner and finishing it with the fresh coriander and ginger.
This dish is easy to prep in advance. Both the onion /tomato base masala and cut vegetables can be prepped and refrigerated in an air-tight container ready to use when needed. It can be be stir-fried with the masala paste just before dinner or lunch saving you a lot of time.
What other vegetables can be used in this dish?
Any vegetable that can hold shape and can be stir fried quickly can be used. Zucchini, Baby corns, green beans, carrots, cauliflower, even potatoes will wrk well. You can totally skip the paneer and simply add the vegetables to make a yummy vegetable Jalfrezi.
Jalfrezi is technically made nice and spicy but I adjust spice level depending on my audience :). With the right mount of spice, masalas soaked in by the soft paneer along with the crunchiness of peppers and tanginess from the tomatoes this dish has all the drama you would look for in a good restaurant style paneer curry
Serve it as a side for Roti /naan or make a panner warp out of it for more fast-food style meal. Let’s make some Panner Jalfrezi!
Paneer Jalfrezi | Veg and Cottage cheese stir-fry
Ingredients
- Red capsicum – 1/2 cup
- Green Capsicun – 1/2 cup
- Yellow – 1/2 cup
- Paneer – 1-1.5 cups
- Onions -1/4 cup
- Tomato -1/4th cup
- Ginger – 1 tbs
- Jalapeno – 1 tbs
Masala Paste
- 1 Medium onion
- 2 small tomato
- 2 -3 cloves garlic
- 1 inch ginger piece
- 3-4 tbs oil
- Turmeric
- Salt to taste.
Dry Masala
- 1 tbs – coriander powder
- 1/2 tbs – cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- Salt and chili powder to taste.
- Cilantro leaves to garnish
Instructions
- Finley chop onion and tomatoes, ginger and garlic and set them aside. I like to grate my ginger garlic here.
- In a heavy bottom pan heat 3 tbs oil and add the chopped onions , grated ginger & garlic followed by salt .
- Let this mix cook until the onions start to sweat. Now add in the tomatoes and turmeric and let this all combine to a nice mushy mix.
- The onion tomato mix should start releasing flavor and oil from the sides. Cook until then. Takes about 10 -15 mis
- Now remove this mix from the pan and in the same pan add 1 tbs oil and add jeera/cumin seeds.
- Once it starts to splutter add the onions and give it a quick saute.
- Once it’s translucent add the julienne cut capsicums. Let it cook for a min or 2. This does not have to be over cooked,
- Then add the salt, chili powder, garam masala, coriander powdered cumin powder. Give it a quick mix cook it for 1 min.
- Now add the onion – tomato mix followed by the panner slices and tomato. Give this all a nice mix. This is a dry curry so no water is needed.
- Turn off the stove and garnish with julienne ginger and fresh coriander leaves.
If you are looking for a quick and fancy week night meal try this recipe. Don’t forget to drop a word to let me know how you liked it. You can follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for more such recipes and food photography. Don’t forget to comment and rate the recipe here.
