Restaurant Style Chilli Paneer Recipe

I am sure you have had your fair share of chilli paneer till date if you are an Indian because this is one such Indo-Chinese dish that all Indians love to devour irrespective of them being a strict vegetarian or a meat-lover!

Let’s make the crowd favorite chilli paneer at home and bring the restaurant vibes in, what’s say?

When my better half suggested making this recipe, to be honest, I was a bit skeptical! That’s simply because I lost one critical cooking skill which is typically used in this recipe!

Wondering what the heck I am talking about? Let’s find out!

If you have been following me for a long time, you would have surely noticed how my recipes have evolved over time.

This blog has always been a place where I share what I and my family eat in our regular life; so you may have noticed that my recipes here have taken a turn into the skinnier side since the last couple of years.

Since we have been consuming low-fat & low-cal recipes off late, that’s what I share with you all and that’s exactly why & how I lost one of the key cooking skills i.e. deep frying!

Still confused and thinking how losing this skill is related to this recipe of restaurant style chilli paneer? Read on to know more!

What is restaurant style chilli paneer?

Chilli paneer is an immensely popular dish in any Indo-Chinese restaurant across India and the best part is this can be served either as a starter or in the main course.

You can make a restaurant style chilli paneer dry which is what I am making today and serving as a delicious appetizer.

Alternatively, you can make a chilli paneer gravy to be served in the main course as a side for fried rice or veg stir-fried noodles!

Typically, this crispy & soft chilli paneer is made by deep frying the paneer cubes in hot oil to achieve that crispy exterior and that’s where my problem lies!

I could not bring myself to deep fry my paneer cubes because that would let the paneer cubes soak up too much oil making the dish unnecessarily high in calories and fat.

Instead I shallow fried the cornflour coated cubes of paneer and my chilli paneer still turned out incredibly tasty! You can trust me on this that I am not making this up!

You really don’t have to deep fry things when shallow frying can also produce equally crave-worthy results!

Ingredients for restaurant style chilli paneer

Paneer: Because this is the star of your dish, use a fresh block of paneer to make this restaurant style chilli paneer.

The fresher the paneer is, the soft & succulent your chilli paneer will turn out to be.

Onion & Capsicum: The crunchy capsicums and nicely charred onion are the tasty perks that you get with your chilli paneer which are crispy on the outside and melt-in-mouth succulent on the inside!

Aromatics: Infuse the oil with finely minced ginger and garlic to impart that beautiful deep aroma to your homemade chilli paneer.

Green chilli: As the name suggests, this classic paneer recipe won’t be complete without a handful of fresh green chillies.

You can adjust the number of chillies based on your preference; just cut them diagonally to give your chilli paneer that classic restaurant-like look.

Oil: A flavorless oil is what you would need here; you can use sunflower oil or canola oil. Just try to opt for cold pressed oil to minimize the harmful effect of highly refined white oils.

Cornflour: No Indo-Chinese recipe is complete without cornflour. You will first need it to coat the paneer cubes before frying them up (shallow frying by the way!).

Secondly, you will need another couple of tablespoons of cornflour to thicken the sauce and make it cling to the paneer cubes.

Soy sauce: This is where the heart of a perfect chilli paneer lies! You need an absolutely perfect balance of umami which I prefer to achieve by mixing two types of soy sauces – light & dark.

I will tell you why!

If you use only dark soy sauce, it would make the dish too salty and dark which I find too strong to my liking.

On the other hand, using only light soy does not achieve that right level of umami leaving your chilli paneer feeling incomplete. Hence an accurate mix of light and dark soy hits the right spot!

Vinegar: Any perfect restaurant style Indo-Chinese dish has the right balance of saltiness that comes from soy sauces with sourness; so adding a sour element is a must!

You can add your regular distilled white vinegar or to give your restaurant style chilli paneer an authentic taste, you can use Chinese rice vinegar as the sour component.

Sugar: The clinging sauce of chilli paneer has the subtle hint of sweetness which you can add through regular white sugar or brown sugar.

Spring onion greens: This is the signature touch of any Indo-Chinese dish – a generous sprinkling of spring onion greens on top! Don’t miss it!

Black pepper powder: Freshly crushed black pepper powder is a must as it complements the sauce of the chilli paneer beautifully.

Salt: Here you need to be a bit careful as soy sauces come with a lot of salt in itself; so add extra salt only at the end after tasting the final dish.

How to make restaurant style chilli paneer?

Step 1: Cut the block of paneer into cubes of 1-inch length and ½ inch width. Take the paneer cubes in a mixing bowl.

Step 2: Drizzle about half a teaspoon of salt and 4 tablespoons of cornflour over the paneer cubes. Give a good shake to the bowl so that each paneer cube gets lightly coated with cornflour.

Step 3: Heat a wok or frying pan and add about 2 tablespoons of oil; let the oil warm up.

Pro tip: In most of the homemade chilli paneer recipes and also in restaurants, paneer cubes are deep fried in oil. But, given my inclination to make the dishes as healthy as possible, I skipped deep frying my paneer and shallow-fried them instead.

Step 4: Once the oil is nicely warm, reduce the heat and place the coated paneer cubes one by one into the oil in a single layer. Let them shallow fry without disturbance for 2 minutes on medium-low heat.

Step 5: After a couple of minutes, flip the paneer cubes over and let the other side fry on low heat until both the sides become golden brown and crispy.

Step 6: Fry the paneer cubes in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan; otherwise your paneer cubes will not turn out crispy.

Step 7: Once all paneer cubes are fried, set them aside in a bowl until needed!

Word of caution: These crispy fried paneer is super addictive, try one at your own risk!

Step 8: While the paneer is frying, cut the capsicums into 1-inch chunks. Also, cut the onion into large chunks and then open up the layers. Cut the green chillies into halves.

Step 9: Before you start the stir frying, prepare the chilli paneer sauce by mixing both light & dark soy sauce, vinegar and sugar with about half a cup of water in a mixing bowl. Give a good mix.

Pro tip: Do not add salt to the sauce at this stage. We will add salt at the end after tasting the final dish as soy sauces are already quite salty.

Step 10: In another small bowl, dissolve 2 tablespoons of cornflour with about ¼ cup of water to make a slurry and set it aside.

Step 11: Now let’s start the stir frying! Heat a wok over high heat. Once it is nicely hot, reduce the heat to medium low and add about 2 tablespoons of oil.

Step 12: Swirl the wok so that oil coats the entire surface. Now add the finely chopped ginger & garlic and green chillies.

Step 13: Give them a quick toss in hot oil and stir fry for just 1 minute. Then add the capsicum chunks & onion petals and stir fry them for 4 to 5 minutes on medium flame.

Pro tip: Stir fry the veggies until they are slightly charred but not completely soft. The crunchy veggies with soft & succulent paneer cubes create a mind-blowing combination for our taste buds!

Step 14: Once you are happy with the veggies, it’s time to add the sauce! After giving a quick stir to the sauce mixture, pour it into the wok.

Step 15: Bring the heat to up to medium high and gently stir the sauce to mix it in with all veggies. Let the sauce come to a boil.

Step 16: As soon as the sauce starts to boil, drizzle the prepared cornflour slurry after giving it a quick stir. Keep stirring the veggies into the sauce and slurry to mix everything up evenly.

Step 17: Once the sauce starts to simmer it will start to thicken evenly; add in the fried paneer cubes at this stage.

Step 18: Using a spatula keep stirring your chilli paneer gently keeping the heat on low at this stage.

Step 19: Gradually the paneer cubes will soak up the sauce and get coated beautifully! The sauce will be absorbed by paneer cubes & veggies leaving you with the most luscious chilli paneer dry you ever had!

Step 20: At this stage, check the seasoning – if you feel any additional salt is needed, add it now as per your taste. Also sprinkle the black pepper powder. Gently mix everything evenly.

Step 21: Switch off the flame now and sprinkle chopped spring onion greens over the chilli paneer. Give a final gentle mix and your restaurant style chilli paneer is ready!

Step 22: Transfer your chilli paneer to a serving bowl, garnish with more freshly chopped spring onion greens and a dash of black pepper powder, serve warm and enjoy!

More delicious restaurant style paneer dishes from Flavor Quotient