Peanut and paneer rice recipe
A great way to use up leftover rice, but if you don’t have any, this easy recipe is worth freshly cooking rice for. The addition of paneer and chickpeas brings bite and flavour to this lovely rice dish, while the peanuts give it crunch. It’s beautiful just with some yogurt, but if you have any chutney in the refrigerator, do serve it with this.
Note: add around 10 minutes to the cook time if you're cooking fresh rice.
Ingredients
- 300 g uncooked basmati rice or 900g (2lb) cooked
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 50 g raw, blanched peanuts
- 10 fresh curry leaves
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- 3 dried red chillies
- 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 225 g paneer, cut into 2.5cm (1 inch) cubes
- 1 x 400g/14oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Details
- Cuisine: Indian
- Recipe Type: Rice
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 5 mins
- Cooking Time: 15 mins
- Serves: 5
Step-by-step
- If not using previously cooked rice, wash the rice in cold water and drain, then cook in a large pan of boiling water for 8–9 minutes until tender. Drain well.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan, add the peanuts and cook over a low heat for 2–3 minutes until they are golden and toasted.
- Add the curry leaves, mustard seeds and red chillies and let them sizzle for a few seconds.
- Add the tomatoes and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes until they have softened.
- Add the salt and ground spices followed by the paneer and chickpeas. Mix together well and cook for 2 minutes.
- Mix in the cooked rice and cook over a high heat, stirring, for 2–3 minutes until heated through, then serve immediately.
This recipe is from Chetna's 30 Minute Indian by Chetna Makan. Published by Mitchell Beazley (£20).
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