Skip to main content

Paneer Couscous Salad

Last two weeks were so hectic for me that I didn't find time to even open my blog page. Lots of friends coming home, cooking, eating junk, visiting places, our famous festival "Vishu" came up  & finally I ended up getting sick. I am still in bed but was so frustrated doing nothing that I thought let me post one of my healthy salad recipes which I had promised earlier. I saw this salad recipe in one of the BBC cookery shows & was quiet eager to make it. The original recipe suggests the use of Halloumi instead of Paneer. Halloumi is a type of Greek cheese made of mostly Goat's milk. It has the same texture of that as Paneer, hence I used Paneer. Must say, It was quite filling and delicious, perfect for a Summer afternoon.
Ingredients:
  • 200 gm couscous
  • 200 ml hot vegetable stock / hot chicken stock
  • 400 g can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 courgette/zucchini (sliced)
  • 200 gm paneer (Indian Cottage Cheese), cut 1 inch length wise
  • 2 medium sized ripe tomatoes (roughly chopped )
Dressing:
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 tbsp lime juice
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves or mint leaves
  • 1-2 tsp sugar
Method:
  1. Put the couscous in a bowl & pour the hot stock over it & stir with a fork. Cover the bowl & leave it for 4-5 minutes or until it absorbs all the stock.
  2. Meanwhile, put all the dressing ingredients in a separate bowl & mix well.
  3. Fluff up the couscous with the fork & put the chickpeas over it. Pour half of the dressing over chickpeas & couscous. Mix well with the fork.
  4. Take your serving plate & tip the couscous on to it.
  5. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan & fry the sliced courgette for 2-3 minutes or until golden. Remove & keep aside. Cook the chopped tomatoes in the same pan for 2 minutes. Remove & keep aside.
  6. Into the same pan, fry the paneer strips for 2-3 minutes on each side or until it becomes crispy brown on both sides. Switch off the heat.
  7. Top the couscous along with the courgettes & tomatoes.
  8. Place the fried paneer on top of the tomatoes & drizzle with the remaining dressing. Garnish with    coriander or mint leaves.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hundred Thousand Dollar worth Rava Upma (Indian Semolina Polenta)

Now you must be thinking, who doesn't know to make Rava Upma? What is so special about it? Every 5th person residing in India knows to make it and is a common breakfast item in almost all the Indian household. We Indians take this dish for granted. Well up until a week back, even I thought the same about this dish and looked down on Rava Upma. Not anymore. Last week I read a news about an Indian born, New York Chef Floyd Cardoz who won the top prize of £100,000 in an American show called "Top Chef Masters". No prize for guessing, he made RAVA UPMA!! After reading the article, I immediately decided that the recipe of a basic version of Upma must be on my blog. And here I am sharing the if not a "million dollar", then atleast a "hundred thousand dollar worth Upma Recipe". :) Upma is a popular South Indian Breakfast dish, mainly prepared by Semolina. It has a great resemblance with the Italian Polenta. It can be made with many variations by adding vegeta...
13 comments
Read more

Anniversary & Pouring Awards with Pista Kulfi

Took a break from blog & cooking for a couple of days as I was in a mood to celebrate!! That's right, Arun and I celebrated our 4 years of married life on 10th June. Phew, time truly flies in just a snap!! (Below is our wedding snap, a perfect South Indian Wedding shot...please don't laugh at it.;). So I was in no mood to cook that day & told Arun that the meals of the day will be either frozen, take away or a dine out. He preferred the third one. ;) So we went to one of our favourite food joints {Did I tell you, that we live in a place called Chesterfield, a Historic Market Town in UK & don't have much choices around here ;)}, "Frankie & Benny's."My god, we both die for those thin crust Italian Pizzas & the cheesy gar(lick)y bread which melts in your mouth like a candy floss...Aah! Now, I have to tell you what we ordered, because it was that good. ;) For starters, we ordered their famous garlic bread with crispy coated chicken ...
24 comments
Read more

Light Lunch - Vegetable Soup

My last few days at Chesterfield, home alone, cherishing all the happy memories of the last 4 years. Spent whole day flipping through the photographs with a hot mug of Coffee relaxing on my recliner. I was in no mood to cook but then getting hungry is human, so I had to visit my kitchen to see what could be made. I decided to go light today so made use of all the remaining veggies (to clear off the fridge) to make a healthy Vegetable Soup. I finished off making a warm, healthy, filling soup for my lunch just within half an hour & went back to my couch only to get more lazy. Sometimes its good when you do nothing at all!! ;) Ingredients: 1/2 of medium cauliflower (cut into florets) 2 medium carrots (peeled & finely diced) 1 cup of fresh or frozen peas 1 medium potato (finely diced) 1 medium onion (finely chopped) 2-3 cloves of garlic (crushed) 25 gm butter salt & pepper to season Method: Melt the butter in a pressure cooker. Now add the crushed garlic & the chopped ...
22 comments
Read more