Chilli paneer

Spent many a happy hour drinking Kingfisher and eating this at the Anand Regency in Rajahmundry, thanks guys. Apologies for bastardising it though.

All quantities will be to taste and based on how many packs of paneer you will be using, you will need quite a bit of sauce to make it fun

• cornflour

• ground sea salt

• ground black pepper

• chilli powder

• 5 spice powder

• 1 pack of paneer per 2 people (or more if you have a hearty appetite plus extra as this freezes well or can be taken to work cold next day for lunch) cut into small chunks - a normal pack you cut in half through the depth then you should get 4 cuts lengthways and 5 sideways so about 40 chunks a pack

• spring onions - white parts sliced into 1-2 cm long bits, green tops finely chopped

• ginger cut into fine strips

• garlic sliced thinly

• chillies sliced long ways

• red onions - top and tailed, skinned, cut into halves from top to bottom then across ways then top to bottom to give quite big pieces

• dark soy sauce

• light soy sauce

• sugar - not too much and adjust while cooking

• pale dry sherry/rice wine or mix of the 2

• black rice vinegar or normal rice vinegar

• sweet chilli sauce

• Tabasco sauce

• Encona hot sauce - or whatever you like to be honest

• squeeze of ketchup

• chilli oil if available

• water

• prawn crackers and white rice of choice to serve with it

1. mix together the soy sauces, hot sauces, sherry, sugar, sweet chilli sauce and ketchup. Add some water to loosen up - better to serve with more sauce than not enough!

2. mix together the cornflour, salt, pepper, 5 spice and chilli powder

3. add the paneer chunks to the cornflour and mix to cover with the cornflour mixture

4. heat some oil in a wok, add the paneer (shake off excess cornflour and reserve for later)

5. cook in batches shaking and stirring frequently until a golden brown crust forms all over, remove and drain on kitchen paper

6. add more oil to the wok plus a splash of chilli oil and heat to medium heat

7. throw in the red onions, garlic, spring onion whites, ginger and chillies

8. gently stir fry until fragrant, taking some colour and partly cooked

9. turn up the heat

10. pour in the sauce ingredients, bring to boil then turn to slow simmer

11. add more sherry/rice wine/water if not enough sauce

12. simmer gently for 10-15 minutes while having a glass of wine or your favourite tipple in memory of Keith Floyd

13. taste and add more sugar, salt and/or pepper if required

14. simmer gently for 5 more minutes

15. add some water to the reserved cornflour

16. bring sauce to the boil

17. add the cornflour and stir until thickening

18. add the paneer

19. turn down the heat to a slow simmer, stirring to make sure the paneer is well covered, heat through the paneer

20. serve with finely chopped spring onion green bits sprinkled on top with the rice and prawn crackers on the side

Money saving tip|;

once you’ve cooked the prawn crackers let the oil cool and put in a jug. This can be used as the oil for cooking the recipe plus any left can be put into a container and used later for stir fries, fried eggs, poppadums etc , no point throwing it away is there when it’s perfectly good and only used once?