Paneer Masala Dosa

My husband and I occasionally watch a Malayalam cookery show called Super Chef that features a restaurant review hosted by a bubbly girl who loves food, a celebrity cookery segment featuring stars from daily soaps, and a segment called Food Salad where the host makes simple yet interesting dishes. Today’s paneer dish is actually an inspiration from one of the Food Salad segments and was called Fish In and Out. The recipe used plain white flour dough, filled it with a fish mixture flavored with spices, onions, and garlic, shaped it to look like a fish, and deep-fried it. I swapped the fish with paneer and the plain dough with puff pastry and baked it.

I enjoy making dishes that can be repurposed and if you are like me, you’ll love this paneer dish. It started off as a filling for paneer puffs and the left overs were spread onto crispy dosas for dinner a couple of days later.

Ingredients (Makes 4-5 dosas)

2 cups – Finely chopped paneer

1 cup – Diced onion

2 tsps – Ginger-garlic paste

1 tsp – Chili powder

½ tsp – Coriander (dhania) powder

¼ tsp – Turmeric powder

1-1  ½ tbsps. – Oil

1 tbsp – Lemon juice

Dosa batter

Method

Heat a pan on medium heat

Add oil to the pan and wait till the oil is warm

Add the diced onions and the ginger-garlic paste

Sauté for about 2-3 minutes to remove the raw smell

Add chili powder, coriander powder, and turmeric powder

Sauté for 5-6 minutes or until the onions are tender

Add the finely diced paneer pieces

Mix well, cover, and cook for 10 minutes

Add lemon juice, mix again, and remove from the heat

(At this stage you can use the paneer masala to make puffs or stuffed parathas)

For Dosas

Heat your dosa griddle

Tip: Sprinkle some water on it to see if it is hot. If the water sizzles, then you are all set to make dosas

Grease the griddle with a couple of drops of oil

Take a ladle full of batter and spread it out in a circular motion, to make a thin, round crepe

Once it starts browning on the bottom, place about 2-3 tablespoons of the filling either in the middle or on one half of the dosa

Wait for the entire dosa to turn light brown, using a spatula release the edges, and fold over the filling

Serve hot with your favorite chutney (The dosas were so yummy that I gobbled them up without any accompaniments). Bon Appètit.