Paneer Jalfrezi is a colorful vegetarian stir fry made with cottage cheese, vegetables like onions, tomatoes, green peppers, and powdered spices. It is a simple and healthy recipe that's quite popular with paneer lovers everywhere. Ready and on the table in 20 minutes!
If you like cooking with fresh vegetables, bharwa shimla mirch is another very tasty recipe. Green bell peppers are stuffed with a spicy potato filling and baked in the oven. They are delicious!
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What is paneer jalfrezi?
Paneer is soft Indian cottage cheese that is very popular in North India. It is a ricotta like firm cheese that doesn't melt when cooked. Jalfrezi comes from the Bengali word jhal which means peppery or spicy. So paneer jalfrezi is a medium-hot vegetarian stir fry, perfect when served with some crisp naan or tandoori roti.
What does paneer jalfrezi taste like?
Interesting question! It's an explosion of distinctly Indian textures and flavors. When soft paneer fingers meet onions, tomatoes, and crispy green peppers with a slight bite to them, when fresh spices deepen the flavors....that's when you get a dish like paneer jalfrezi.
A quick and simple recipe
This paneer jalfrezi recipe is a rustic, dhaba-style preparation that you can make quickly in a wok or karahi. It does not require any special or hard to find ingredients or spices, and I really meant that! I'm guessing you do have onions, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, and green peppers lying around in your pantry and fridge. If you also have some basic spices - turmeric, red chilli, cumin, coriander, and garam masala - you're all set to make this tasty dish:)
As you can see in the image below, I've cut the cheese and vegetables in long strips. Doesn't make a difference to the taste, of course, but it's the way restaurant style paneer jalfrezi is made, and it's visually pleasing!
A note on paneer or Indian cottage cheese
If you are in North America, paneer is available in most Indian grocery stores and nowadays even in big chain supermarkets like Walmart and Superstore. However, if you live in an area where paneer is difficult to get, here's a super simple recipe for making your own paneer With just two ingredients, milk and lemon juice (or vinegar), you can make homemade cottage cheese in a snap.
Besides, homemade paneer is softer and tastes much better than store-bought paneer. However, if you are in a hurry and must use store-bought paneer, an easy hack to soften it and get rid of the extra fat is to immerse the whole block in hot water for about 15-20 minutes. It becomes soft and you can slice through it easily.
Two very popular recipes in which I used store-bought paneer are this palak paneer recipe and shahi paneer. Do check them out.
Instructions
The actual cooking is very simple and quick as the ingredients are added one by one and quickly stir fried over medium to high heat. However, you do need to slice and chop the vegetables, so that's the first, prep step.
Preparation (10-12 minutes excluding the paneer soaking)
- Paneer - If using store-bought paneer, take it out from its wrapping and immerse the block in hot water for 15-20 minutes. There is no need to soak homemade paneer. Then, slice into long fingers.
- Vegetables - Slice the green peppers, onions, tomatoes, and ginger in long strips. Chop the garlic roughly.
- Spices - Spoon out one tablespoon fresh coriander seeds in a small frypan on your stovetop and dry roast on high heat until just fragrant. When the seeds start to change color, take the frypan off the hob and let it cool down somewhat. Then, grind in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle if you have one. Keep the powdered coriander aside. Keep the other spices handy - whole cumin seeds, red chilli powder (any hot variety will do), turmeric, and garam masala.
Cooking (10 minutes)
- Heat the cooking oil in a wok or karahi and add the cumin seeds. Once they change color slightly, add the onions and garlic. Fry on high heat until the onions start getting caramelized at the edges.
- Add the rest of the veggies in quick succession - green peppers, tomatoes, and half the ginger. Also add the remaining spices (coriander, turmeric, chilli powders, garam masala), and salt. Sauté on medium to high heat until the tomatoes and peppers soften slightly but don't lose their color and crunch.
- Now, add the paneer fingers and fry for a minute more, making sure the paneer is well coated with the spices.
- Sprinkle the remaining ginger and some fresh cilantro leaves on top if you want, and serve with hot naan or tandoori roti.
Some useful tips
- Do try and make your own freshly roasted and ground coriander in this recipe. It makes a world of difference to the taste and literally just takes two minutes of your time.
- Paneer Jalfrezi is typically made with green peppers (or capsicum), and there is a reason for it. Green peppers have a distinct sharpness to them which is what you want for jalfrezi. Red, orange, and yellow peppers are sweeter in taste and don't make the cut.
- Use a hot variety of red chilli powder for jalfrezi, not your regular mild Kashmiri chilli. I use Everest Tikha Lal (available in most Indian grocery stores), but you can use any brand that says 'hot' or 'extra-hot'.
- Take care not to over-cook the vegetables. The peppers should retain their color and crunch and the tomatoes and onions their shape and texture.
More paneer recipes
- Paneer Butter Masala - The sauce for this dish is to die for! It's a finger-licking nutty, buttery number that's meant to be soaked up with some bread or rice.
- Paneer Biryani - The cottage cheese is layered with spiced rice for a sumptuous vegetarian biryani.
- Mutter Paneer - An old classic... paneer with sweet garden peas in a tasty tomato sauce.
- Hariyali Paneer Tikka - The perfect vegetarian appetizer on skewers! The cheese just melts in your mouth and onions and green peppers give that perfect crunch and bite.
Want still more paneer in your life? Check out all the paneer recipes on the blog!
📖 Recipe
Paneer Jalfrezi
Equipment
- Small frypan
- Spice grinder or coffee grinder
- Wok or karahi
Ingredients
- 9 oz paneer
- 1 green pepper large
- 2 tomatoes medium-sized
- 1 red onion medium-sized
- 1.5 tablespoon fresh ginger root chopped
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 3 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoon fresh cilantro optional
Instructions
Preparation
- Soak the paneer in hot water for 15 minutes and cut into long strips or fingers. (This step is for store-bought paneer only. For homemade paneer, ignore it).
- Slice the vegetables into long strips.
- Dry roast the coriander seeds in a small frypan. When they become fragrant and start changing color, take them off the heat. Grind in a spice grinder when cool.
Cooking
- Heat the cooking oil in a wok or karahi and add the cumin seeds. When they change color, add the onions and garlic and fry on high heat till the onions start caramelizing at the edges.
- Add the rest of the vegetables in quick succession - green peppers, tomatoes, and half the ginger.
- Add the powdered spices and salt - coriander, red chilli, turmeric, and garam masala.
- Fry the vegetables on medium to high heat until the tomatoes and peppers soften but don't lose color.
- Add the paneer and fry for one or two minutes, making sure the paneer is well coated with the masala.
- Garnish with the remaining ginger and cilantro and serve hot with some naan or tandoori roti.
Notes
- You can use ready made ground coriander for this recipe, but making your own is very easy and makes a lot of difference to the taste and freshness of the recipe.
- It is preferable to use green peppers only as they are different in taste from the other colors. They do have a distinct earthiness and bite to them.
- Use a hot variety of red chilli powder for jalfrezi, not your regular mild Kashmiri chilli. I use Everest Tikha Lal (available in most Indian grocery stores), but you can use any brand that says 'hot' or 'extra-hot'.
- Take care not to over-cook the vegetables. The peppers should retain their color and crunch and the tomatoes and onions their shape and texture.
Sakina says
The paneer jalfrezi was so easy and tasty! And all those vegetables - onions, garlic, tomatoes, peppers...yum!