Vegetarian Eggless Fritter 7: Marinated Paneer Pakora [Cheese Fritter]

Total time required to make:
30 mins plus 1 hr for marination

Serves: 4

I’ve always loved paneer, but ever since becoming vegetarian, it’s become my vege meat. Not only does it taste yummy, its also very good for you…so although we are frying it in this dish, you don’t need to feel too guilty! Paneer is a bit like tofu; it doesn’t have an intense flavour of its own, so relies on the sauce it’s in for flavour. This recipe uses the same batter as used in eggless fritter 1 [besan and spice batter]. You could try just dipping small blocks of paneer in the batter and frying them, but I feel marinating the block before frying them would make them much tastier. Here are 2 marinades you could try:

Chilli Lemon Marinade: 1 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp coriander-cummin powder, 1 tsp kitchen king/garam masala, 2 tbs lemon juice, salt to taste
Green yogurt marinade: ½ cup yogurt, 1 tsp garlic-ginger paste, 1 medium green chilli minced, 1 tsp mint minced, 1 tsp coriander minced, 1 tbs lemon juice, 1 tsp crushed cumin, salt to taste [ vary this according to what you have handy]
Do let me know if there are other good variations you know of! Now to the recipe:

Ingredients
250gm diced paneer
1 ½ cups besan batter [see Eggless Fritter 1] – you may have to make it slightly thicker than you would for onions, potatoes etc for it to stay on the paneer.
2 x quantity of marinades 1 or 2 [above]
Oil for deep frying

Method:
Marinate diced paneer in chosen marinade for at least 1 hour [overnight would be great].
When ready to fry, remove excess marinade from paneer cubes, dip them in the besan batter and deep fry over medium-high for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown.
Drain well and serve. These taste divine on their own or you could serve them with tomato or chutney of your choice.