Indo-Chinese Food

How to cook… Indo-Chinese Rice

Recipes

Serves 4 as a side dish

This Indo-Chinese Rice combines the best of Indian and Chinese flavours and is excellent with Indo-Chinese dishes or to add a little extra to dishes such as Aloo Ghobi and Bombay Aloo.

What you need…
• 300g Basmati Rice
• 0.5 teaspoon oil
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped into slivers
• 200g peas
• 1 green chilli, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons soya sauce
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 2 spring onions, chopped to garnish (optional)

How you make it…
1. Cook the Basmati Rice and allow to cool.
2. Heat the oil, add the garlic and fry for 1 minute.
3. Add the peas and green chilli and fry for a few seconds. If you are using frozen peas you will need to cook them for a bit longer.
4. Add the soya sauce and vinegar, mix well and fry for 1 minute.
5. Add the rice and stir fry until everything is warmed through.
6. Serve, garnished with the (optional) spring onions.

CHEF’S TIP
Avoid adding salt as the soya sauce already contains a lot of salt.

If you like this you should try our…
Medium Chicken Curry • Chicken Madras • Chicken Vindaloo • Chicken Bhoona • Chicken Feet Curry (Africa)

Don’t rush this dish. It’s not a rice to the finish.
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How to cook… Manchurian Paneer

Recipes

Serves 4 as a main dish

Manchurian Paneer is an Indo-Chinese dish that combines the flavours and cooking techniques of both India and China. The chunks of cheese are fried in a chilli batter then stir fried with garlic, ginger, pepper and spy sauce and top with spring onions. The cuisine emerged from a group of Chinese people, now numbering 2,000, in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and there are a number of restaurants serving the hybrid cuisine in Chinatown in the city.

What you need…
• 500g paneer, cut into chunks
• 10 Tablespoons oil
• 0.5 yellow or green pepper, cut into chunks
• 0.5 red pepper, cut into chunks
• 1 teaspoon garlic paste
• 0.5 teaspoon ginger paste
• 0.5 onion, cut into chunks
• 3 chillies, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons tomato ketchup
• 2 spring onions, chopped
• 0.5 teaspoon cracked black pepper

For the batter
• 5 Tablespoons plain flour
• 1.5 Tablespoons corn flour
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• pinch of salt
• water, as needed


How to make it…
1. Mix the first four ingredients of the batter then add the water bit by bit to form a thin paste.
2. Add the paneer chunks and ensure all are well coated by the paste.
3. Heat the oil to a medium-hot heat then add the paneer chunks until they brown on all sides (about 3 minutes). Turn them frequently to avoid them burning. Remove the paneer from the oil and set aside on a paper towel.
4. Turn down the heat, add the peppers and cook for 2 minutes.
5. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for 1 minute.
6. Add the onion and chillies and fry for 2 minutes.
7. Add the soy sauce, tomato ketchup and 4 tablespoons of the leftover batter paste and stir fry for 1 minute.
8. Add the paneer and fry until all the ingredients are cooked through. The peppers and onions should be softened but not mushy.
9. Sprinkle the spring onions and crack the black pepper on top and serve fresh.

CHEF’S TIP
This also makes an excellent and unusual starter. Just half the quantities.



Manchurian Paneer is one of the great Indo-Chinese dishes combining flavours from Indian and Chinese cuisine.

If you like this you should try our…
Sag Paneer • Chilli Paneer • Butter Chicken • Butter Paneer • Prawn Korma • Medium Chicken Curry • Chicken Madras • Chicken Vindaloo • Chicken Bhoona • Chicken Dopiaza

I asked my friend if he’d like more chillies with his paneer … “No whey!”, he cried.

How to cook… Chilli Paneer

Recipes

Serves 4 as a main dish

Chilli Paneer is a popular and spicy Indo-Chinese dish, combining flavours from both cuisines and with Indian cheese as its main ingredient (make your own paneer). These dishes are emerged in states that border China and India and also from a group of Hakka Chinese people who moved to Calcutta.

What you need…
• 4 Tablespoons cornflour
• 1 Tablespoon red chilli powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 Tablespoons cooking oil
• 500g paneer cheese, chopped into small, evenly sized chunks or strips
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 1 each of red, yellow and green capsicum peppers, chopped into bite-sized chunks
• 20g garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons chilli sauce (try Baj’s Blazin’ Original Hot Sauce)
• 1 Tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 4 green chillies, sliced down the middle and cut into chunks (don’t deseed)
• small handful of coriander to garnish


How you make it…
1. Mix the cornflour with 20ml of water, the chilli powder and some salt and pepper. Coat each piece of paneer in the cornflour mix.
2. Heat 1 Tablespoon oil in a frying pan to a medium heat and shallow fry some of the paneer for a 1–2 minutes until just turning golden. Set aside on kitchen towel. Repeat until all the paneer has been cooked.
3. Add the onions and peppers to the remaining oil and cook for 3–4 minutes on a medium heat.
4. Add in the garlic, the chilli sauce, soy sauce and brown sugar to the onions, peppers and garlic and cook for 2 minutes on a medium heat.
5. Add in the paneer and cook for 3 minutes, then add in the chillies, salt and pepper to taste, then stir well and ensure everything is warmed through,
6. Serve, garnished with coriander leaves.
• Recipe courtesy Baj’s Blazin’ Sauce in Greenwich.

CHEF’S TIP
This recipe uses strips of paneer but you can use cubes if you prefer.



If you like this you should try our…
Make your own Paneer • Sag Paneer • Medium Chicken Curry • Chicken Madras • Chicken Vindaloo • Chicken Bhoona

Some may warn you that this dish is very hot but it’s really quite chilli.