How to prepare Tamil Nadu's Traditional Paneer (Paal Katti) Chettinadu Curry Recipe

How to prepare Tamil Nadu's Traditional Paneer (Paal Katti) Chettinadu Curry Recipe

In Tamil Nadu food is given more importance. The reason for giving more importance to food is not to eat more. It is to eat tasty dishes. The method of preparation of each and every dish in Tamil Nadu is unique. They also take a more effort to bring out a tasty dish. One such effort full side dish is this Tamil Nadu's Traditional Paneer (Paal Katti) Chettinadu Curry. 

 

Tamil Nadu's Traditional Paneer (Paal Katti) Chettinadu Curry Recipe

Servings - 4 persons

Ingredients required for preparing Tamil Nadu's Traditional Paneer (Paal Katti) Chettinadu Curry

Paneer/ Cottage Cheese (Paal Katti) - 500 grams

Tamarind - 2 inch pieces

Mustard Seeds - 1 Tea Spoon

Split white Urad Dal - 1/2 Tea Spoon

Curry Leaves - 1 Bunch

Onion - 1 Cup (Chopped)

Tomato 1 Cup (Chopped)

Salt - to taste

Coriander powder - 1 Tea Spoon

Chilly Powder - 1 Tea Spoon

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 Tea Spoon

Oil - 1 Table Spoon

Water - As much as required

Ingredients to make basic masala for Tamil Nadu's Traditional Paneer (Paal Katti) Chettinadu Curry

Cloves - 10 Pieces

Cinnamon Sticks - 5 Inch Piece

Green Cardamom - 10 pieces

Star Anees - 1 Full Flower

Kal Paasi (Black Stone Flower) - 1 Tea Spoon

Coriander seeds - 1 Cup (5 Table Spoons)

Cumin Seeds - 2 Tea Spoons

Fennel Seeds - 4 Tea spoons

Whole Black Pepper Corns - 3 Tea Spoons

Fenugreek Seeds - 1 Tea Spoons

Dry Red Chillies - 15 Pieces

Kasa Kasa (Poppy Seeds)

Ingredients Required to make a paste for Tamil Nadu's Traditional Paneer (Paal Katti) Chettinadu Curry

Usually when we prepare chettinadu masala at the instance of preparing any dish, the below listed ingredients will be ground along with the above said basic chettinadu masala powder to give a thick paste. But we can prepare a large amount of the above said powder and store it in an air tight container for multiple uses. In Tamil Nadu Traditional cooking Chettinadu recipes takes a special trade mark for its quality and delicious taste. So the Basic Chettinadu Masala Powder is also available ready made in any shops with various brand names. We can also substitute this powder with the purchased ready made basic chettinadu masala powder.

If in such a case, we should not add the below said ingredients along with the above said home made or ready made powder. Rather than that we can shallow fry these ingredients separately and grind it on the day you make any chettinadu recipes.

Small Onions - 1 Cup

Coconut (Grated) - 1 Cup

Ginger - 1 Inch Piece

Garlic - 6 to 10 Pieces

Basic Chettinadu Masala Powder Preparation procedure for Tamil Nadu's Traditional Paneer (Paal Katti) Chettinadu Curry

Take a dry pan and heat it in medium flame.

Now add cloves, cinnamon, cardamon, star anees and kal paasi. Fry all these ingredients for about a minute.

After this add Coriander seeds, Whole black pepper corns, Cumin Seeds, Fennel seeds and fenugreek seeds. Now fry all these ingredients in low flame for about 3 to 5 minutes.

You will get a tempting aroma from all these ingredients. When you get that smell, you can find out that the ingredients have got fried.

At this stage add Kasa Kasa (Poppy seeds) and dry red chilies along with the other ingredients. Fry them further for about 2 minutes.

Now frying process is over. We can switch off the flame and transfer all these ingredients in a wide plate and let it to get to room temperature. After that add all these ingredients all together into a mixer jar and grind it into a fine powder. Do not wait after the ingredients reaches room temperature. Or else the crispiness of the ingredients will get reduced and the powder will not turn into completely fine stage. In such a case you will get only a coarse powder.

Now we have to prepare the paste for Tamil Nadu's Traditional Paneer (Paal Katti) Chettinadu Curry

For this take a table spoon of oil in a pan and one after the other add small onions, ginger, garlic and grated coconut. Once all these ingredients have got fried into golden brown color switch off the flame. Let the ingredients to get to room temperature. If you want these ingredients to cool faster, you can even keep it in fridge or freezer for one or two minutes. We are cooling these ingredients just because we should not grind any ingredients hot in a mixer jar. After all the fried ingredients cool down we can grind it into a fine paste. Keep this aside and start preparing our Tamil Nadu's Traditional Paneer (Paal Katti) Chettinadu Curry.

Cooking procedure for Tamil Nadu's Traditional Paneer (Paal Katti) Chettinadu Curry

Take a bowl and put the cleaned tamarind piece into it and add enough amount of water to soak it. Let this to soak for about 15 minutes. After soaking, mash the tamarind piece so that the pulp from it turns into a paste like texture. If you keep on mashing it for few minutes, the water in which you soaked the tamarind will turn into tamarind paste. After this you can sieve only the pulp with your hands so that the seeds, fiber content and small portions of its shell which was stuck along with the tamarind will remain in your hands. Now our tamarind paste is ready.

Now cut the Paneer/ Cottage Cheese (Paal Katti) into small cubes. Take a Dosa Pan or a shallow fry pan and add a table spoon of oil in it. Heat the oil and put all paneer cubes in it. Let it to fry on one side and then turn it to the other side and fry. Fry them on all sides and take it out of flame.

Then take the tamarind paste in a bowl and add shallow fried Paneer/ Cottage Cheese (Paal Katti) in it. Add a pinch of salt and turmeric powder and let it to soak for about 5 minutes.

In this mean while we can prepare the chettinadu curry.

First take a pan and add about a ladle full of oil to it. Heat it in medium flame and then add mustard seeds to it. After the mustard seeds crackle, add the urad dal to it.

After that add curry leaves and chopped onion and stir them for few minutes. When the onion gets to golden brown color, add the ground paste along with this onion and fry for few more minutes. After all these ingredients are fried well add tomatoes into it and let it to cook until it turns soft. Once the tomato gets mashed very well it means that they are cooked. In this stage add coriander powder, basic chettinadu masala powder, chilly powder, turmeric powder and required amount of salt. Stir them for few times to let all the masala fry. In this stage add a cup of water and let it to cook for 5 minutes. Now we can add the soaked Paneer/ Cottage Cheese (Paal Katti) along with the tamarind paste. Now we have to close the pan and cook it further for 10 more minutes.

Now our Tamil Nadu's Traditional Paneer (Paal Katti) Chettinadu Curry is ready to serve. We can switch off the flame and transfer it to serving bowl and garnish it. For garnishing we can just use curry leaves. This dish is best for dinner. Tamil Nadu's Traditional Paneer (Paal Katti) Chettinadu Curry recipe goes well with Idly, Idiyaapam, Aapam or even Chapathi, Parota or Naan.