Recipe provided by Chef Janishq Mungee.
"I chose to make this recipe because paneer is quite accessible and some people are kind of hesitant to go out of their comfort zone to make traditional dishes. Also a huge shoutout to our vegetarian community, there’s nothing more important than having loads of vegetarian recipes in your arsenal. I feel like I can’t live by eating meat every meal of the day so I love exploring different protein sources. I’m back in Dubai now, and re-exploring my community, this sauce is inspired by the essence of Sri Lankan produce and spices. I hope you guys like it."
INGREDIENTS
100g of paneer
50g of yogurt
Chili powder
Turmeric Powder
1 teaspoon Whole Black Pepper
Curry Leaves
½ Cinnamon Stick
Ghee/Coconut Oil
3 Onions (quartered)
2 Tomatoes (quartered)
3 Green Chili
Butter
Dark Rum
Lemon/Lime
Ginger and Garlic Paste
METHOD
SAUCE
To make the sauce, start by tempering your peppercorns and cinnamon in a bit of ghee or coconut oil. Keep the heat on medium-low throughout the following steps.
Add 4-5 curry leaves and your onions and sweat till translucent, followed by green chilli and tomatoes.
Add your chilli and turmeric (1 teaspoon each), toss and keep the lid on for about 3-5 minutes.
Deglaze the pan with a shot of dark rum, let the alcohol cook out for about 30 seconds, and then pour in your coconut milk. Organic is always best!
Let the sauce cook out for 30 minutes on a simmer, let it cool and finally blitz everything up in a food processor/blender. REMEMBER to remove the cinnamon stick.
PANEER
Pre-heat Oven to 180°c.
Marinate Paneer with a mixture of yoghurt, chilli powder (½ tsp), turmeric (½ tsp), ginger and garlic paste and salt. Set aside for 15 minutes. Paneer doesn’t need a long time to marinade because it doesn’t have fibres to absorb it like meat does.
Get a pan to medium heat, oil it up and slap that paneer on.
Once the paneer is nice and brown, flip it and add your butter into the pan with a few curry leaves as well.
Treat it like a steak and begin to baste it with a tablespoon for about a minute.
Toss into the oven for 6-8 minutes, take it out and let it rest for about a minute.
GARNISH AND PLATING
Crush some pistachios, I like to keep it rustic by just hand-crushing it not too fine.
Chop some coriander.
Brush some of your beautiful sauce onto the paneer to help the pistachios stick, then proceed to do the salt-bay action very dramatically with your pistachios.
Make a pool of sauce on your plate, place your garnished block of paneer on top, sprinkle some coriander for freshness and YOU'RE DONE!
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