Homemade sizzler may sound like a big project, but this paneer sizzler is honestly a lot easier than it looks. Once you see how simple each step really is, you’ll wonder why you ever paid restaurant prices for one.
This paneer sizzler is our vegetarian version Chicken stewand if you’ve done it before, you already know most of the steps. If you haven’t, don’t worry. The recipe has several components, but each one is really simple on its own, things like sauteing vegetables, making a quick sauce, and cooking some herbal rice.
Once everything is prepped, final assembly is just a matter of minutes putting it all together on the hot plate. I would suggest preparing the various components earlier in the day so you don’t have to do everything at once. That way, when it’s time to eat, you can actually enjoy the pile and sizzle instead of rushing through it.
jump to section: sizzler paneer
Ingredients for Paneer Sizzler
Paneer: Cut into 4 squares or rectangles and marinate for 10-15 minutes before frying.
Paneer Marinade: Garlic paste with ginger, salt, pepper, green chili sauce and soy sauce.
Shashlik sauce: Ginger, garlic, celery, tomato ketchup, vinegar, sriracha, soy sauce, vegetable stock, pepper, sugar, salt and cornmeal.
Herbal rice: Cooked fried rice with butter, garlic and spring onion greens.
Vegetables: Broccoli, beans, carrots and cabbage.
Mushrooms: Shiitake or shimeji, halved, fried with onion rings.
Potato wedges: Fried, served on a plate along with everything else.
Butter and oil: It is used in various ingredients for cooking and flavoring.
Frequently asked questions
There are two possible reasons. Either the sizzler plate wasn’t heated enough, or the sauce wasn’t hot enough when you poured it. The dish should be drunk hot, which lasts 5-7 minutes on high heat. And the sauce should be boiling when it falls on the plate. If one of them is cold, you will not hear the noise.
You can serve all the same ingredients in a regular dish and it will taste just as good, you just won’t have the corrosive effect. If you want to get closer, heat a cast iron pan until it’s very hot, transfer everything to it and pour the boiling sauce at the table. It won’t be the same, but you’ll get some sizzle.
yes. Firm tofu works well here. Cut it into pieces of similar size, marinate it in the same way and fry it until it turns golden on all sides. It holds up well in the sizzler plate and soaks up the sauce well.
Richa’s top tips
- Heat the stewpan until smoking. This is the most important step. If the dish is not hot enough, there will be no sizzle or smoke and the whole experience will fall flat. Leave for 5-7 minutes on high heat before starting to assemble.
- Shashlik sauce should be boiling when you pour it. If the sauce has cooled a little, it will not sizzle when it hits the plate. Keep it on the stove at a simmer until you’re ready to pour it.
- Do not boil the paneer while frying. 2-3 minutes on medium heat is enough to get a light golden color. If you fry it for too long, the pan will turn hard and become rubbery on the plate.
- Blanch the vegetables before frying them. The vegetables do not have enough time to cook during the final assembly, so if they are put on the plate raw, they will remain raw. A quick one-minute blanching followed by an ice bath keeps them cooked but still crispy.
- Don’t forget the cabbage under the rice. The cooking plate is extremely hot and rice placed directly on it will burn and stick almost immediately. Cabbage strips act as a barrier and hold everything in place.
Storage tips
- In the fridge: Store each component separately in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Shashlik sauce, herbed rice, stir-fried vegetables, mushrooms and fried plantains all store well individually. Keeping them separate means you can reheat and assemble a fresh stew whenever you want.
- Freezing: Shashlik sauce freezes well for up to two weeks. The rest of the ingredients are best made fresh. Because overtime, the vegetables lose their crunch and the panel can become rubbery after freezing.
- Reheating tip: Reheat the sauce on the stove until it boils, reheat the rice and vegetables separately and reheat the casserole dish. The topping only works when the dish and sauce are both hot, so don’t rush this step even when reheating.
Ideas for service
A Paneer sizzler is a complete meal on its own, but if you want to make it feel like a full restaurant experience:
Personalization ideas
- Make it vegan: Swap the pan for firm tofu and use oil instead of butter in all ingredients. The shashlik sauce is now vegan, so the rest of the sizzler remains the same.
- Try another sauce: Use our garlic pepper sauce Chicken stew instead of a spicier and pepperier version.
- Add more protein: Grilled mushroom steaks, slices of marinated tofu, or even a fried egg on the side can make the stew feel more substantial.
- Change the vegetables: Baby corn, asparagus, bell peppers and zucchini work well in a mild dish. Use whatever is in season and looks good at the market.
- Prepare a Mexican-style piper: Change the shashlik sauce to a spicy salsa, replace the rice with herbs chilli garlic fried riceand add some guacamole and sour cream on the side for a completely different experience.
Did you know?
Shashlik sauce originated in Central Asia and has nothing to do with Indian or continental cooking. The word “shashlik” comes from the Turkish word for skewered meat, and the sauce was originally used to baste kebabs cooked over an open flame. Somewhere along the way, Indian restaurants got the name for a tangy, tomato-vinegar-based sauce that bears little resemblance to the original. The Indian version has its own identity now, sweeter, cheesier and thicker with cornmeal, and has become one of the most popular sauces in the country.
Making a stew at home is much more possible than most people think. And this paneer sizzler recipe is proof. Pour in one step at a time, don’t rush the preparation and make sure the sauce is boiling when you pour it. That’s really all there is to it. When you get it, come tell me on Instagram @my_foodstoryI would like to see your best moment.
Watch Paneer Sizzler Recipe Video
Prevent your screen from going dark
Herb rice
-
Heat ½ teaspoon of butter in a pan or kadai, add the garlic and fry for a few seconds until light golden. Add rice, salt, mix well, top with spring onion greens. Set aside.
Frying vegetables
-
Blanch the vegetables: Have a large bowl of ice-cold water ready. Boil 1½ cups of water in a pot, add ¼ teaspoon of salt, broccoli, beans, carrots and boil for no more than 1 minute and remove from heat. Drain and plunge into ice cold water and drain again. Set aside.
-
Frying the vegetables: Heat a pan or kadai with a teaspoon of butter, add the blanched vegetables, ⅛ teaspoon of salt and fry for 1-2 minutes until they turn shiny on the outside.
Mushroom frying
-
Heat a pan or kadai with 1 tablespoon of oil, add the onion rings and saute for a minute until they become transparent, add the mushrooms, ⅛ teaspoon of salt and saute for 1-2 minutes until they are lightly browned.
Shaslik sauce
-
Heat oil in a pan or kadai, add ginger, garlic, celery and saute for a few seconds until fragrant. Add vegetable stock, mix well, bring to a boil. Add ketchup, vinegar, sriracha, soy sauce, salt, sugar, pepper, stir and cook for 4-5 minutes. Add the cornmeal powder, stirring constantly, once it starts to boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes until the sauce thickens and becomes glossy. Set aside.
Sizzler production
-
Heat the pan over high heat until smoking and using tongs or kitchen gloves place it on the wooden base. Add 1 teaspoon of butter to the frying pan, spread the strips of cabbage leaves to cover the pan and fry for a few seconds. Spread herb rice on top of cabbage leaves, add fried vegetables and potato pieces. Place the roasted paneer on top of the vegetables, add the mushrooms on top of the paneer, pour the boiling hot garlic chilli sauce (refer to note 4) over the plate and mushrooms and also around the sizzler plate. The sauce will brown and smoke and serve immediately.
- You can add any vegetables, mushrooms of your choice to the stew.
- Blanching the vegetables is very important to ensure that the vegetables are not raw when served in the stew.
- Cabbage leaves are added so that the rice does not stick to the pan and burn during serving.
- The shashlik sauce should be boiling hot when poured into the stew as it provides the astringent and smoky effect.
This article was researched and written by Harita Odedra.