Be My Guest - Bhoona Paneer

Despite me doing guest posts for quite some time now, still I struggle to do the introduction. For some posts, the intro kind of just flows while sometimes it gets stuck. Wanting to write about Shruti (hope I spelled your name correct! :P), who blogs at Cooking with SJ, and I am kind of stuck at words. I feel any communication with her is talking to somebody who is a very open, "dont care" attitude type of lady who writes in a way she might be speaking. When I read her messages, I feel that I am talking to her, and actually I also feel like she is somebody who had studied with me in school, perhaps? Were you by any chance educated in Sharjah? ;)

The first time I got a very enthusiastic email from Shruti, I went back with a "yes". Then what followed was a long period of silence. I was sure she must have forgotten about her email so went back to her with a small reminder. She apologised for being lazy - actually does it require any apologies is the question, I am one lazyhead too! - and promised to revert back with her post as soon as possible. What she gave me was a dish which would be fit for my B. Why? Because he loves paneer, and I hardly cook it for him because nobody else likes it at home. That is why I don't have even a single recipe which features paneer on my blog. So a big thank you for taking off that limitation. I will make sure my B sees the pictures and drools over it, considering that he has had that bowl all for himself. Hehe... another thing is that I love the yellowish tints most of her photographs have... they just give a totally different feel to her snaps.

Hmm... I thought I was getting stuck and there the intro flows!!! :) Without much delay, handing over the batton to my guest of the day...


Hi… I’m SJ! I better describe myself as a loving wife/daughter/sister/friend/blogger/food-photographer and yes, a home-chef for sure!!! 

A big time food-lover got into this food-blogging world 3 years back n now, cooking has been my 1st passion! My space 'Cooking with SJ' is simply a small try to transfer zaika of vegetarian food from my kitchen to yours via Indian/Fusion/International dishes :) Hope you visit me sometime soon...

Every day while surfing through blogosphere, I bookmark a few recipes I would love to cook in my kitchen... I tried out many of them, few were disasters n few worked very well! Sometime a month back, I stopped by some page with non-vegetarian recipe. Being a core-vegetarian, I should definitely skip that post... But it kept me glued to read from 1st to last line n that recipe was "MalaiChicken"!!! I decided to make it right on the next day... Naaah, don't think much! I used paneer as a substitute :P And it turned out to be a star-dish indeed :)

Aaaah!!! Immediately I referred few pages of this flavorful space n 'Be My Guest' label captured my attention. I posted an email to this lovely lady 'Rafeeda' if I can be a part of this series! I was so excited n I got the same response in return from her :) Someway with work n family, I missed posting for her... N on her reminder, I decided what I'll share for guest-post! Rafee... I'm so sorry for being late or lazy in drafting this one, but it had to be perfect :)

Back to 'Bhoona Paneer'

You must have had kadai paneer many a times before and this post might look quite similar to it! But quite a different, crumbly, sticky, smoky flavour of these lovely looking paneer cubes brought me so many compliments when I served it to friends over dinner.
Try it out... I'm sure this will work for you too :)

INGREDIENTS:
200 gm Paneer
2 tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
1/2 tsp Green Chilly, finely chopped
1/2 Capsicum
2 tbsp Chopped Onion
1/2 Brown Onion
2 tbsp Tomato Puree
1 Tomato
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1/2 tsp Roasted Cumin Powder
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
2 tbsp Cooking Oil
Salt, to taste
2 tsp Lemon Juice
Coriander Leaves, to garnish
  
STEPS TO FOLLOW:
Cut paneer, onion, capsicum and tomato into equal sized cubes.
Add 2 tsp oil, salt and 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 1/2 tsp red chilly powder in a bowl and add paneer cubes. Coat them with spiced oil and cover with a cling wrap. Keep in refrigerator for half hour for spices to get infused completely.
Heat oil in cast-iron kadai and add ginger-garlic paste along with chopped green chillies in kadai.
Saute it for a min and add chopped onions. 
When onions are translucent, add tomato puree, salt and turmeric powder into it. Cook it for nearly 4-5 mins or until the gravy is thickened to a paste consistency.
Add vegetable cubes and cook it for 2-3 mins more. Make sure they lend crunchy bite at the end.
Add paneer cubes along with all the spices. Mix everything well and cook uncovered until it starts sticking at bottom of the kadai.
Turn off the heat and pour lemon juice.
Transfer it to a serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves.
Serve hot with paratha or naan :)

SJ's NOTE:
I specifically used cast-iron kadai to give a sticky n crumbly texture to paneer!
And yes, you can avoid using green chillies and replace it by red chilly powder here.























Looking at the picture, I feel like I have had lunch right in the morning! Aah, so homely, isn't it? Thank you so much Shruti for being a part of this series gladly and I am so happy to have you over here...

Hope all of you enjoyed the post as much as I did... Do hop by her space for some lovely vegeterian food...

On an end note - I am so glad that there are quite a bit of bloggers who come over to enjoy my reads despite being more on the non-veg side as far as the dishes are concerned. I am seriously overwhelmed... I wish I could stick my heart out here to show the depth of it... :)

Have a nice weekend!

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