As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I am on Paleo diet, which is a low carb, high fat diet. Usually meat is the main food for paleo dieters, but being a vegetarian, it is very hard to get proteins from vegetarian options. In a strict paleo diet, milk and cheese are in gray zone, they need to be either avoided or had by minimal quantities. But for a vegetarian paleo diet, milk makes a good part of the diet. 100 gm of paneer has 23 gm of protein (information collected from the web). So it is a good source of protein and can make up the protein deficiency in a vegetarian diet. There is a paleo dieters group from India who give these vegetarian options. As it is a tried and trusted ingredient, I didn’t even think twice while planning my menu.
And while making chilly paneer, I had to take into account some restrictions. Corn starch cannot be included and also processed foods. So while making this recipe, I have kept the sauces to a minimum. I have used only soy sauce and vinegar omitting the red chilly and green chilly sauces. And also I have used ghee for stir frying the paneer cubes. Instead of corn starch, I have used arrow root powder. You can also use tapioca flour instead. These come under paleo ingredients. Even after so many substitutions, my chilly paneer turned out wonderful. This was my lunch and I had a nice filling meal. That is the beauty of paleo diet. No restrictions about the portions. You can eat until your tummy is full.
Ingredients:
For The Paneer:
Paneer – 200 gm
Salt – to taste
Red Chilly Powder – 1/2 tsp
Vinegar – 1 tsp
Water – 1-2 tsp
Arrowroot Powder – 1 tbs
Ghee – 2 tbs
For The Sauce:
Onion – 1
Capsicum – 1
Green Chilly – 1
Garlic – 2-3 cloves
Ginger – a small piece
Soy Sauce – 2 tsp
Red Chilly Powder – 1 tsp
Salt – to taste
Water – 2-3 tbs
Procedure:
Cut paneer into small cubes.
In a bowl mix together paneer cubes, red chilly powder, salt, vinegar, arrowroot powder and a little water.
Shake the bowl so that the ingredients mix and coat the paneer. Do not break the cubes.
In a pan add ghee and arrange the paneer pieces. Fry until all the sides are golden.
Remove them and set aside.
In the bowl which you used for paneer, add the sauce, water, red chilly powder along with the residual arrowroot powder mixture.
In the same pan you used for frying paneer, add the cubed onions, capsicum, julienned ginger and chopped garlic.
Sauté until the onions are golden and the capsicum is half cooked.
Add the sauce mixture and cook for a minute.
Finally add in the paneer cubes, swirl them to coat with the sauce and remove from flame.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Chilly Paneer Recipe
Ingredients
For The Paneer
- Paneer - 200 gm
- Salt - to taste
- Red Chilly Powder - 1/2 tsp
- Vinegar - 1 tsp
- Water - 1-2 tsp
- Arrowroot Powder - 1 tbs
- Ghee - 2 tbs
For The Sauce
- Onion - 1
- Capsicum - 1
- Green Chilly - 1
- Garlic - 2-3 cloves
- Ginger - a small piece
- Soy Sauce - 2 tsp
- Red Chilly Powder - 1 tsp
- Salt - to taste
- Water - 2-3 tbs
Instructions
Procedure
- Cut paneer into small cubes.
- In a bowl mix together paneer cubes, red chilly powder, salt, vinegar, arrowroot powder and a little water.
- Shake the bowl so that the ingredients mix and coat the paneer. Do not break the cubes.
- In a pan add ghee and arrange the paneer pieces. Fry until all the sides are golden.
- Remove them and set aside.
- In the bowl which you used for paneer, add the sauce, water, red chilly powder along with the residual arrowroot powder mixture.
- In the same pan you used for frying paneer, add the cubed onions, capsicum, julienned ginger and chopped garlic.
- Sauté until the onions are golden and the capsicum is half cooked.
- Add the sauce mixture and cook for a minute.
- Finally add in the paneer cubes, swirl them to coat with the sauce and remove from flame.
- Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.
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Looks so wonderful Gayathri..I won’t mind having this endless..:)
Chili paneer looks very nice. I like protein rice diets and never done paleo diet. I should look more into it.
Chilly paneer even without the sauces looks fantastic.
Paneer Chilli is my favorite Indo-Chinese dish. I LOVED the way you made this one 🙂
I want that whole bowl, lipsmacking here, this chilly paneer rocks.
Wouldn’t mind the whole bowl, Gayathri. Very tempting!!
I love chilli paneer and am drooling over your pics.
wow!!!want to read more about your vegetarian options for the diet!!!This look super filling
even though the Paleo diet has been around for so long, I have never really done research into what it entailed, it seems pretty easy to follow actually and with your minor adjustments this still looks so delicious
Yes, Mir, I feel that this is one of the easier diets. You don’t have to starve and crave for anything. Just eat your full and reduce.
Looks filling gayathri, i do make something similar to this but not with any sauces!!!
Am on Paleo too.. I am a bit confused about the sauce.. Do we have to grind all the ingredients under the sauce to make a sauce or is it some other sauce?
It was the soy sauce I have mentioned. Do not grind the sauce ingredients. First add soy sauce in the bowl with water and arrow root powder and then add it to the stir fried onions. That will become the main sauce which will coat the paneer.