Roasted paneer and chickpeas under three sauces
Paneer goes in the oven, not the fryer, and comes out squeaky at the middle and brown at the corners.
At a Glance
Story
Paneer does not melt, which is why it can go in an oven at all. There is almost no free water in it, so instead of slumping it dries at the surface and browns while the middle stays firm and faintly squeaky. Cube it larger than feels right. Small dice dries all the way through, and the contrast that made it worth cooking goes with it.
Ingredients
- 4 oz paneercut into cubes
- 1 chickpeasdrained and patted dry
- ½ cup brown rice
- 1 poblano pepperseeded and thinly sliced
- 1 red onionhalved and thinly sliced
- ½ tbsp mild curry powdervadouvan if you have it
- ½ cup full-fat Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup cilantro sauce
- 2 tbsp tomato achaar
- 2 tsp tamarind paste
- 2 tsp honey
- olive oilsalt, pepper
Method
Three sauces sounds like a lot until you see that two of them are stirred, not made. What you are really doing is roasting a tray, charring an onion, and deciding how much of each thing to put where.
- Brown rice on, covered, low, 23 to 25 minutes. It takes longer than everything else, so it goes first and waits.
- Oven to 450F. Chickpeas and paneer tossed with the curry powder, olive oil, salt and pepper, then spread on a sheet pan with room between them. 10 to 12 minutes, until the chickpeas have split and the paneer corners have gone properly brown.
- Onion and poblano in a hot pan with olive oil, 4 to 5 minutes, until the edges catch. You want colour here, not softness.
- Stir the tamarind paste with the honey. That is sauce one. Sauce two is the yogurt, seasoned. Sauce three is the cilantro sauce, out of the jar or made.
- Tip the tray into the pan with the onions and peppers, add the achaar and half the yogurt, and fold it together off the heat.
- Over the rice, then the cilantro sauce, then the tamarind honey in a thin drizzle, then the last of the yogurt. The tamarind is the sharp one. Go lightly and add more at the table.
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