Paneer Tomato Rice

Tomato Rice is something my mom makes every time for me whenever we have leftover white rice to use… This time we had a cup of cooked Basmati rice left over and she had this idea of adding some paneer to her tomato rice since we had some extra paneer after making a curry out of it… However, since Paneer is involved the recipe got tweaked a bit too as in this is not the usual Tomato Rice or Thakkali Saadam that she usually makes… Instead the following pic shows the end result…

Heres the recipe:

Recipe

Ingredients

• For the Rice:
  • Rice – 1 cup cooked white rice (Basmati in this case)
  • Onion – 1 small sized one
  • Tomato – 1 small sized one
  • Fresh Mint Leaves – 1/4 handful (to taste)
  • Ginger Garlic Paste – 1 tsp
  • Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp
  • Chilly Powder – 1/4 tsp (to taste)
  • Salt – To Taste
  • Garam Masala – 1/4 tsp
  • Kasoori Methi Powder – 1/4 tsp
  • Oil – 2 to 3 tbsp
• For the Paneer
  • Paneer – 10 to 12 curry size cut pieces (we love paneer; thats why)
  • Salt – To Taste
  • Chilly Powder – 1/4 tsp (to taste)
  • Turmeric – 1-2 pinch
  • Oil – Enough for Frying

Procedure

1. Rub the salt, turmeric and chilly powder onto the paneer and set aside for 5 mins.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the Paneer till it starts to change its colour to golden brown. Basically we are just searing it for using later.
3. After that, heat 2-3 tbsp of oil in a frying pan (its fine to use the oil left over in the pan used to fry the paneer just now and add onions and a pinch of salt and sauté till it begins to caramelise ie, turns brown…
4. Add the Tomato and also the Ginger Garlic Paste and the dry spice powders and make sure they are mixed well till the raw smell of the spices are gone…
5. Add the Rice and Paneer and mix well… Add more salt if needed at this point and mix everything thoroughly…
6. Add the mint leaves and mix it in and turn off the stove…

The Paneer Tomato Rice is ready to be eaten… This recipe is for 1 cup of cooked rice (not 1 cup of uncooked rice) and what you see in that bowl is the entire quantity that was made… Feel free to multiply the quantities of the spices and salt based on the amount of rice and paneer you are using… As Marco Pierre White says, “The Recipe is just a Guideline”… 🙂

So, thats it… That was another way courtesy of my mom, to make use of leftover ingredients and make a lunch which I think kids would love to have… Ofcourse there is no rule that says that this should not be made entirely using fresh ingredients too… If so, I think this might be a great idea for the lunchbox… Please do try and let me know your thoughts in the comment section below 🙂