Paneer Thecha Bites
Thecha is a peanut, cilantro, garlic, and chili based chutney with a rustic semi-coarse texture that is used widely in Maharashtrian cuisine. Combine that with paneer, and you can't really go wrong! So, if you love peanut, garlic, and cilantro — and of course, paneer — then this snack is for you! It makes for a perfect appetizer, skewered up with some blistered onion, bell pepper, and tomato.
My secret shortcut for making paneer thecha bites in under 15 minutes is a crowd-pleaser as much as it's a time-saver. Instead of using peanuts, roasting them, and then blending them up, I skip the hard work and use some delicious crunchy peanut butter instead.
Ingredients
- dozen paneer chunks (cubes or small rectangular slabs)
- 2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup of rinsed, dried cilantro
- 1/4" piece of ginger, peeled
- 2-3 cloves of garlic
- 1 green chili*
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp mustard oil
Directions
- In a small blender, blend up the cilantro, ginger, garlic, green chili, and apple cider vinegar.**
- In a bowl large enough to fit the marinade and paneer chunks, stir together this blended mixture with the 2 tbsp of crunchy peanut butter and salt to taste. The consistency should be thick and creamy, and it should get creamier as you stir.
- Toss in the paneer chunks and let the mixture sit for at least 5 minutes.
- Heat up a cast iron pan and pour in some mustard oil. Let the oil heat in the pan for about 20 seconds.
- Using a fork, transfer the chunks of paneer one by one (along with some of the marinade coating them) onto the hot pan.
- Let the paneer chunks sit until a golden brown crust starts to appear at the base of the paneer. At this point, flip the paneer over and let that side crisp up as well until you're satisfied with the color.
- Remove the paneer chunks from the oil and transfer onto a cooling rack or absorbent towel-lined plate to drip off any excess oil.
- Serve as is, or skewered up with some blistered bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes!***
* Adjust according to your spice tolerance! (You can even omit the green chili if you want 🤫) If you want, you can use red chili powder or red chili flakes instead as well.
** If it won't blend together smoothly, you can add a tsp of water to get it moving. If this ultimately makes the marinade's consistency too runny, you might find it helpful to add a tsp of besan or gram flour to balance it out.
*** If I have any extra marinade, I usually like to coat some onions in it too and crisp those up just like the paneer — it's really good! And then I skewer those up with the paneer.
