taking sides: Tofu v. Paneer

a difficult one. Its possible to do both really badly. I'll plump for paneer as its a bit more flavourful but I'm about to have a bowl of miso soup with fried tofu it it which is great.

Paneer is awesome. Saag Paneer, love it.
Tofu, tolerable.

no contest.

Paneer! My friends granny makes the best paneer curry in the midlands (fact). Sainsbury's do paneer jalfrezi, but I tend to just pick out the paneer and leave the jalfrezi. I've never had tofu though, so I suppose I'm a bit biased. But paneer is my favourite thing in the world.

Hard to say, since I've only had paneer in Indian dishes, whereas I've had tofu in dozens of incarnations. Palak paneer is definitely one of my favorite Indian meals, but tofu wins for variety's sake.

(Plus, I'm happy to take the vegan one.)

Paneer no competition - fried tofu rocks though...

Tofu wins, easy. Nothing beats a good grilled tofu sandwich, when the tofu has been marinated to perfection, and it's served on toasted fresh bread with lettuce, tomato, maybe some pesto sauce and sprouts. The texture of well-prepared tofu is heavenly: all soft and fluffy on the inside - it melts in your mouth. Paneer is okay, but it's basically just bland, chewy cheese - nothing to get excited about.

I never liked paneer, which I guess makes me weird. I don't like tofu that much either, but I guess I have to give it the edge. Plus it's somehow involved in Tofutti Cuties -- I would like to see paneer create something that sublime!

I've never been nuts about paneer myself but maybe I need to try it in some different incarnations.

Paneer makhani is also wonderful. However, I love tofu and I'm trying to consume as little dairy as possible. So tofu is the clear winner.

i think paneer def, as i havent had tofu for ages as i just didnt like it. I aim to recify that situation & give it another go, but paneer = num, num.

I like the fried tofu at Chinese shops - great dipped in soy sauce and wasabi. I also like the tofu in miso soup. But I can't wave the flag for tofu as a meat substitute - the only good one of those is mock duck.

However, I LOVE paneer and am capable of making the most luscious saag paneer you have ever tasted. It's one of the bonuses of London that there are good Asian shops every 200 metres or so, which sell it for £2 or thereabouts.

Do you have a recipe Suzy? (my god what is happening to ilx with all of these recipe requests?!! heh heh!)

you need:

one brick of paneer
one bag of spinach (washed and ready to go)
one bunch coriander
one huge onion
some ghee or pale vegetable oil
coconut milk
one huge clove of garlic
turmeric/haldi
garam masala
dried chilis like peperociniti (sp?)
cumin
salt
pepper

in a wok or huge pan, on medium to high heat, dump two tablespoons ghee or a good glug of veg oil. when oil/ghee heated, toast a tablespoon of cumin seeds before adding all of the chopped onion and the chopped garlic. Add a heaping teaspoon of turmeric and two tablespoons garam masala. Stir the mix til blended thoroughly and cook down onions in your normal fashion. You will have cut the paneer into chunks (rectangular, thin chunks the size of a postage stamp work for me). Add all of them into the pan. Try to brown them on the bottom of the pan while hiking the onions away from the centre with spoon. lower heat, add salt, and let the onion/spice flavours cook in to the paneer. After about ten minutes of this, keeping it safe from burning, add half a small glass or teacup full of water, stir in completely, and add one or two dried chilis including seeds to this. Then add half a can of coconut milk (you will use the other half after the spinach has been folded in if you like coconut; sometimes I use 2/3 can and quit there). Stir thoroughly before adding the spinach, all of it, a handful at a time. Then do the same with half the bunch of coriander. Now taste, and adjust chili and salt levels if necessary. Cover on low heat and go watch television for awhile. When the programme finishes, remove the lid and turn up the heat a touch - you're cooking off excess liquid to get a good gravy for the paneer here. Watch another TV show and at the advert halfway through, take the paneer off the heat and make rice to go with it. The paneer will be at the right eating temp when your rice is cooked 15 minutes later.

Sounds great, i'll give it a go & let u know!

Mock Duck is fantastic, and meant my girlfriend could finally (just about) have crispy Peking duck with pancakes when they introduced it at a local take away.

Can you get this outside of a takeaway. I would love to try it as I have never eaten duck & I always feel i'm missing out! :-(

you can get all kinds of mock meats in cans from your local chinese supermarket

i really love paneer, but occasionally any dairy product can make me a bit queasy so tofu gets my vote for sheer sterility and lack of anything microbial.

there's a tandoori restaurant near where i live that does these massive chunks of paneer in the tandoor (the oven). as much as i think paneer is great, eating a massive big chunk of cheese with a fork and knife is a bit ... i dunno ...

paneer is quite easy to make (according to a certain moped-riding wanker) and all you need is milk and vinegar. he made it on his show but it looked disgusting. i've had more edible-looking pukes!

Paneer. There are about thirty five indian restaurants in close proxmity to my home, butw hat none of them realize is that saag paneer really needs MORE paneer. Actually it should be called Paneer Saag with only a smattering of spinach puree.

It's one of those things, like yoghurt, that's really eaqsy to do at home but why would you want to, its cheaper easier and better to buy it in.

NANAK ACHARI PANEER

A pickled preserve.

Serves: 5

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
Nanak Paneer 1 kg
Yogurt 300 gms/ 1 1/3 cups
Onions finely chopped 200 gms/ 1 2/3 cups
Turmeric powder 10 gms/ 2 tsp
Mustard Seeds 7 gms/ 1 tbs
Red chilies powder 10 gms/ 2 tsp
Sugar 10 gms/ 2 tsp
Ginger paste 60 gms/ 3 ½ tbs
Garlic paste 60 gms/ 3 ½ tbs
Lemon juice 20 ml/ 4 tbs
Black cumin seed- {Shah jeera}
5 gms/ 1 ½ tsp
Cloves 10
Red chilies whole 16
Green cardamom 10
Fenugreek seeds- {Methi}
8 gms/ 2 tsp
Olive/ Mustard oil 110 ml/ ½ cup
Peeled garlic whole 100 gms/ 8 tbs
Coriander chopped 10 gms/ 1-½ tbs
Asafoetida {Heeng} 0.5 gms

Method:

Cut Nanak Paneer into small cubes. Heat oil in a pan to a smoking point; add cloves cardamom, mustard seeds, fenugreek {methi} seeds, whole red chilies, cumin seeds, and stir. Add chopped onions and immediately reduce the heat, sauté over medium heat until onions are brown. Add ginger/ garlic paste, red chili powder, turmeric powder, stir, and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add beaten yogurt, bring it to a boil, and simmer over low heat until oil separates from the gravy. Add Nanak Paneer cubes and salt, pepper, sugar, peeled garlic, lemon juice, stir, and cook for one minute. Transfer into a serving dish, garnish with fresh coriander.

Note:

Could be kept in a sterilized bottle in the refrigerated for 5-7 days without the chopped coriander.

NANAK PANEER DAHI KE KEBAB

An exotic healthy snack.

Serves: 5
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
Nanak Paneer finely grated 500 gms
Hung Yogurt 400 gms/ 1 2/3 cups
Onions finely chopped 100 gms/ 2/3 cups
White pepper 5 gms/ 1 tsp
Garam masala 10 gms/ 2 tsp
Yellow or red chilies 6 gms/ 1 1/5 tsp
Fresh coriander chopped 10 gms/ 3 tbs
Green chilies chopped 5 gms/ 1 tbs
Gram flour (besan) / Corn flour 50 gms/ ½ cup
Salt 12 gms/ 2 2/5 tsp
Mace (javitri) 2 gms/ 2/5 tsp
Cardamom Powder 2 gms/ 2/5 tsp
Eggs (optional) 1
Oil for deep-frying 500 ml/2 cups

Method:

In a clean bowl combine all the ingredients, expect the corn flour, and mix with a wooden spoon. Add corn flour and mix further for 2 minutes. Divide the mixture into 20 equal portions, make round balls, roll them in your palm, and press slightly to get a small round patty. Let it rest in refrigerator for 20 minutes. Heat oil in a deep pan or wok, and fry each patty carefully from both sides until crisp and golden. (Can be shallow fried in a non-stick pan) Or coat slightly with egg white on both sides, sprinkle sesame seeds and fry the same way.

Note:

Serve with fresh cucumber slices, tomato slices, onion slices, and fresh mint chutney.

NANAK PALAK PANEER

A classic North Indian recipe.

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
Spinach 1 kg
Nanak Paneer (cubed) 250 gms
Salt 10 gms/ 2 tsp
Maize flour 20 gms/ 1 ½ cup
Nanak Ghee 30 gms/ 2 tbs
Ginger (cut fine) 25 gms/ 4 tsp
Red chillie powder 5 gms / 1 tsp
Or chopped green chilies 3
Water 2 liters/ 8 cups
Chopped onions 100 gms/ 2/3 cups
Cream to garnish 10 gms/ 1 tbs
Tomato finely cut 10 gms/ 2 tbs

Method:

Remove stalks of the spinach leaves. Wash very well and cut finely. Add water and salt and cook for 10 minutes. Drain excess liquid. Beat with a wooden beater of lend in a liquidizer to form a puree. Add the Nanak Paneer cubes to the puree and mix well. Add maize flour slowly and cook for 10 minutes. (This acts as thickening agent.) In a separate pan, heat Nanak Ghee and brown the ginger and onion. Add chili powder and the Nanak Paneer/ Spinach mixture and stir well. Cook for a few minutes more.

Note:

Garnish with juliennes of fresh ginger, tomato pieces, and fresh cream. Serve with fresh green salad and naan.

NANAK TANDOORI PANEER

An ideal starter for vegetarians.

Serves: 5
Preparation time: 2 hours
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
Nanak Fresh Paneer 1 kg
Hung yogurt 150 gms/ 3/4 cups
Black cumin seed - {Shah jeera} 3 gms/ 1 tsp
Garam masala 10 gms/ 2 tsp
White pepper 5 gms/ 1 tsp
Turmeric powder 5 gms/ 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - {Methi} 5 gms/ ½ tbs
Gram flour (besan) / Cornflour 30 gms/ 1/5 cup
Salt 15 gms/ 3 tsp
Fresh cream 150 ml/ 3/5 cup
Lemon juice 25 ml/ 5 tbs
Red chilies powder 10 gms/ 2 tsp
Mustard Seeds 7 gms/ 1 tbs
Saffron 3 gms
Chaat masala 10 gms/ 2 tsp
Grated cheese 50 gms/ ½ cup
Ginger paste 15 gms/ 2 ½ tbs
Garlic paste 15 gms/ 2 ½ tbs
Butter to baste 50-gms/ ¼ cups

Method:

Cube Nanak Paneer into desired size. Sprinkle black cumin, white pepper, garam masala, turmeric powder, lemon juice, salt, and mix carefully. Keep aside for one hour in the refrigerator. Mix cream, hung yogurt in a bowl, add gram flour or corn flour. Add the remaining ingredients; whisk well to make a fine batter. Add the Nanak Paneer to this marinate for at least one hour. Pre-heat the oven to 150- 175 C (300-350- F). Skewer the Nanak Paneer cubes 2 cm apart. Roast in an oven or tandoor or on a charcoal grill or bar b que for 5-6 minutes, baste over with melted butter.

To serve:

Sprinkle chaat masala and lemon juice. Serve with green salad and mint sauce.

goddamn all this stuff seems entirely too hard to prepare. I have a renewed appreciation for the fifteen thousand indian restaurants near my house.

paneer is teh tasteee

VINNY YOU ARE MY HERO