Fantastico Paneer

Paneer (Cottage Cheese) is power packed with proteins and calcium and a boon to vegetarians. Including paneer in our regular diet will add a lot of nutritional value to our meals. And paneer is one food item that is loved by people of all ages from kids to adults. We have been eating and preparing lot of paneer delicacies like the paneer with gravy, tikkis, pakoras etc. But noramal panner preparations are little high in calories as they include lot of deep frying, sauteing etc. Today I am going to tell you some fantastico ideas to pep up that peppy paneer and make it more interesting and low in calories.

Paneer Tikka

Have you also thought that paneer tikka can only be made in restaurants because it needs a tandoor/OTG. Well this is totally a misconception. You can make paneer tikkas at home without any oven or tandoor. Well all you have to do is prepare your favorite marination, either with tomato sauce or green chutney and marinate the paneer cubes in it. After some time take this marinated paneer and cook it on a non stick tava with very little oil. Your restaurant style fantastico paneer tikkas are ready at home.

 

Paneer Parathas

When we think of paneer parathas, first thing that comes to mind with that full of fat and calories paratha. But with little variations we can make paneer paratha more healthy. While making normal paratha what we do is, saute the paneer in some oil and masalas to make a filling and also we put lot of oil in the dough. But instead of sautéing the paneer in oil, just use raw crumbled paneer and add raw finely chopped tomatoes (deseeded) and onions to it along with green chilies and some seasoning. Also do not add much oil while making the dough. The fantastico parathas made of this filling will be much healthy and nutritious.

Paneer Koftas

We make paneer koftas a lot, to either put it in the gravy or serve it as a starter. In the normal koftas we make, we add either potatoes or cheese to give it a proper binding and then deep fry it. But this kofta can also me made healthy and nutritious. Firstly, instead of adding cheese and potatoes, add finely chopped spinach (palak) and use rice flour as the binding agent instead of cornstarch. Also instead of deep frying it you can steam these koftas. In this way with a little variation, the high calorie paneer kofta can be turned into a low calorie koftas.

Paneer Chilas

Chilas are nothing but the Indian pancakes made with either moong dal or besan. Now to this chilas, we can add the stuffing made with crumbled paneer to make it more nutritious and tasty. Since no oil or very less oil is used in the entire preparation, it is very low in calorie too.

So here we have seen, how we can introduce some variations and make those high calorie general recipes into healthier and fantastico recipes. Also try to use this peppy paneer more and more in your general day to day recipes so as to enhance the nutritional value of your meal plus add that extra zing to your meals.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.