Orange Paneer

Source: Love & Lentils

I haven't made a paneer dish in a while, and I was kind of sick of making the usual matar paneer/ saag paneer.  After a lot of "googling" for an unusual recipe, I stumbled upon this.  I've only had orange "chicken" made from fake meat (soy), so I wouldn't know how close this was to the real thing.. but it was pretty damn good! 

 

Ingredients

• 1 package of paneer (400g/ 14oz)
• 1/2 cup corn flour
• 1/2 cup corn starch
• 1-2 teaspoon red chili powder
• 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce*
• 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1-2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2-3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1-2 tablespoons of ginger
• 4-5 garlic cloves
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup orange juice
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons maggi hot n sweet ketchup (I used maggi masala chili sauce)
• 1-2 teaspoons red chili flakes
• 1 small red onion (chopped finely)
• 1 green pepper (chopped)
• green onions (for garnishing)

*chili garlic sauce: I did not have any of this, but this is just made of red chilies, garlic, and vinegar so I added a little bit more of these ingredients.

Directions

Fried Paneer

1. Cut paneer pieces into triangular shapes (they can be uneven chunks)
2. Combine 1/2 cup corn flour, 1/4 cup corn starch, red chili powder, and salt to make a dry mixture
3. Add in paneer pieces with some water in order to lightly cover all of the pieces.  Set aside for a few mins.
4. Shallow fry the paneer pieces until golden brown

Orange Sauce

1. Grind together chili garlic sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, ginger, garlic, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup water.  (I mainly did this because I was too lazy to cut the garlic and ginger into small pieces)
2. Wisk in 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/2 cup water, maggi sauce, and 1 tsp redi chili flakes to the above mixture
3. Sautee red onions and green peppers
4. Add the sauce and cook for a few mins.  At this point taste the sauce.  You may need to add in more of any of the sauce ingredients in order to find a good balance between sweet and spice.
5. Combine 2 teaspoons corn starch with 1/4 cup water and add this to the sauce.
6. After 1-2 mins add the fried paneer pieces
7. Top with chopped green onions and serve with rice and a side of sauteed stir fried broccoli!

Kuty's Twist

I pretty much followed the recipe from Love & Lentils.  I ended up putting a bit too much ginger, so I had to balance it out with more orange juice and water.  The key to this dish is that you have to taste and adjust the sauce ingredients a few times in order to get it right. 

In order to make this vegan, I'm sure you can substitute paneer with tofu.  Enjoy!