Women today play multiple roles- a wife, a mother, a career person, a hostess….so what is it that is this woman’s most valued possession? Well, I feel a woman’s most valuable possession is the art of cooking. It maybe what you’ve seen your mother cook as you grew up, it could be what you learned experimenting in the kitchen on an all-girls night out in school, it could be the first meal you cooked for someone you loved! All the experiences in a woman’s life within the kitchen are valuable, I agree some may have not gone so “well”, but then I’m sure there were times when what you cooked surpassed your own expectations because you put your heart and soul into it.
Especially if you’re a working woman, it is understood that not too often would you have time to indulge in making delicious food or trying out new recipes. But when it’s a special occasion or when you’re having friends over for a casual get together, it’s important that you have food that everyone loves!
There’s a fairly simple snack that I learned some time ago, and let me tell you, this was one of those “experiments” that went rather beautifully. So I’ve eaten Paneer Pakora and it happens to be one of my all time favorite snack, but I’d never tried making it myself at home. It was not until recently that I was expecting a few friends over for dinner and I thought why not try and do something myself at home. I’ll share with you my own version:
Ingredients
- You will need 500 grams of Paneer, chopped into one and a half inch (11/2 inch) rectangular pieces that are half an inch (1/2 inch) in thickness
- One cup yogurt (Dahi)
- Two (2) tablespoons of ginger and garlic paste
- About two (2) tablespoons of oil
- Two (2) tablespoons of tandoori masala
- One (1) tablespoon of salt or to taste
- Half a tablespoon of degi mirch
- Half a tablespoon of bhuna jeera masala
- Half a cup of corn flour
- One egg (whisked)
Method
- Chop the Paneer pieces and keep in a plate
- Take a bowl and beat the yogurt till the time its smooth. Now add all the masala’s into the yogurt (ginger-garlic paste, salt, tandoori masala, degi mirch and bhuna jeera masala), add 2 tablespoons of oil and mix it well.
- Now add the Paneer cubes into the bowl of yogurt and masala’s and make sure that the Paneer is well coated with the marination.
- Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for marinating till serving time.
- At serving time, heat some oil in a pan.
- Spread the half cup corn flour on a plate. (If you do not have corn flour you could also use bread crumbs).
- Take one egg and whisk it in a bowl.
- Take the Paneer cubes one by one, roll it in corn flour.
- Now dip the Paneer cube (coated with corn flour) in the whisked egg, and once again roll the Paneer cube in corn flour.
- Now deep fry in the pan of hot oil.
- Let them fry until the color of the Paneer becomes golden brown.
*Serve on a plate with an onion salad and green pudina chutney.
