The go-to on my highway plate

When I was four or five years old, my mom got really sick. She had to undergo treatment in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. This meant that my dad, sister and I would often have to commute to Vellore from Bengaluru to visit her.

I was too young to realise the seriousness of her illness, so the four to five-hour journey that we made just seemed like a small getaway.

I would look forward to it as my dad had made it a practice to stop at one of the roadside restaurants for dinner.

These restaurants would be the Punjabi-style place that you find on the highway. It wasn’t too glamour to look at but the food would be lip-smacking and the vibe was just what the four-year-old me loved.

I remember sitting on the wire beds and waiting patiently for the waiter to bring our food. And we would always order the same thing — butter naan and palak paneer.

It was one of the best things I have had to date, apart from my mom’s specialities.

A couple of years later, my family shifted to Vellore. The concept of supermarkets was just coming up at the time. Going there to buy your monthly groceries was considered a big deal back then.

I remember my family going there every couple of months. I didn’t enjoy those trips — I would always be denied to buy the things I wanted as they were too expensive (it was a very irrational statement for an eight-year-old me to handle).

But the only reason I liked going there was because of the restaurant that was located right opposite the store. I would be on my best behaviour and hope for my parents to agree for the plan.

And of course, my favourite item on the menu there was the palak paneer and naan. But every time I had that, I missed the ones we had at the highway restaurant.

Over the years, I realised that I really liked paneer. It has no flavour of its own but the masala you add to make the dish becomes the winning factor.

When I started living on my own, I found paneer to be one of the easiest dishes to make. I would have loved to make the palak paneer but the lack of a mixer never allowed me to prepare it. So I took the easy way out. I used the three most important ingredients that make up an Indian dish — onion, tomato and chilli.

Turn that into a Kadai paneer dish and you have a winner. It’s delicious with roti, rice and if you’re not in the mood for anything else, just have a bowl of that and your dinner is done.

Kadai Paneer

Ingredients

Cumin seeds, 1 tsp

Chopped onions, 2

Chopped tomato, 2

Chilli, 1

A pinch of turmeric powder

Chilli powder, 1 tbsp

Coriander powder, 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves for garnish

Dry red chilli, 2

A few sprigs of curry leaves

Mustard seeds, 1 tsp

Paneer, 250 gm

Method

In a pan, add a tablespoon of ghee. Once it’s hot, add cumin seeds.

Add chopped onions. Cook the onions on a low flame till slightly golden brown.

After a couple of minutes, add the chilli powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder. Mix well.

When you see the masala sticking to the bottom of the pan, add a bit of water and cook the masala well.

Add tomato and cook for a couple of minutes. Cover the pan during this process. Every couple of minutes, stir it.

When the tomato turns mushy, mash it with a wooden spoon. (This is necessary only if you don’t have a mixer. If you have one, just puree it and add it on the pan. Cook till it’s done).

Add chilli and stir for a couple of minutes.

Add the paneer and let it cook for a couple more minutes.

In another pan, heat a teaspoon of ghee.

Add mustard seeds, cut the dry red chilli in half and finally add the curry leaves.

Pour this tadka on top of the paneer and mix well.

Add a generous heap of coriander leaves.

Close the pan for a couple of minutes and your dish is ready.