Fried Paneer with a Coriander & Fennel Marinade

Paneer is so easy to make and offers a refreshing alternative to meat in a curry dish, one of my favourites being saag paneer which is what I had in mind when purchasing the milk to make it. But as always, my mind goes off on a tangent when I see other ingredients and the end dish often turns out completely different to what I originally intended, ‘unstructured’ some people might say but I called it creative thinking! This little bit of creative thinking happened because the day I was making my paneer it was warm and sunny rather than the expected cold winter’s day it was meant to be and I no longer felt like a hot curry but something lighter. So that is how this dish evolved. It would also be perfect added to roasted beeroot and pumpkin as a winter salad.

Ingredients – Paneer

2 litres full-cream milk
2 tbsp white vinegar

Method – Paneer

Ingredients

1/4 cup oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 inch fresh ginger, finely chopped
salt & pepper
handful fresh coriander leaves, chopped

Method – marinade & cooking the paneer

Place all the seeds into a frying pan and dry fry them for 2 minutes, partially bash them with a mortar & pestle.
Combine all ingredients in a shaker or jar.
Cube the paneer and lightly flour.
Add a few tablespoons of vegetable oil to a non stick frying pan and fry the paneer on both sides till golden brown.
Pour marinade over warm paneer and serve immediately.
If you want to make the dish in advance you fry the paneer and put aside, then reheat in the paneer in the oven before serving and then add the marinade.