Hakka Chilli Paneer

Hakka Paneer: a combination of crispy Indian paneer and sweet and sour, chilli and garlic sauce, is an example of Indo-Chinese cuisine, an often-overlooked gastronomic hybrid rooted in Kolkata’s Chinese diaspora.

India’s former capital was once home to some 20,000 ethnic-Chinese, predominantly descendants of the Hakka people, who migrated to the city from Southern China during the early 19th century. Over the years, the Hakkas adapted their cooking to this new environment, incorporating local ingredients and techniques and thus creating a new fusion style of food, characterised by both Indian and Chinese flavours.

Today, Indo-Chinese dishes are found right across the globe, and are particularly prevalent in the UK and US, and, though modern Kolkata retains but a fraction of its former Hakka population – due largely to the fall-out from the 1962 Sino-Indian War – Old China Market, in the heart of the city’s Chinatown, remains a Mecca for this unique cuisine, and stands as testament to the Hakka’s enduring influence on India’s culinary landscape.

Our version stays true to the vibrant, umami-rich flavour profile that defines the dish, and is best served over fluffy basmati rice and garnished with finely chopped spring onion.

Ingredients

750g paneer cheese, cubed

6 dry Kashmiri chillies

1 large white onion, peeled & cut into a large dice

2 green peppers, deseeded & chopped into a large dice

100g of celery stalks, cut into thin slices

6 spring onions, thinly sliced (white & green parts separated)

6 cloves of garlic, peeled

4-6 Birdseye chillis, slit lengthways

5cm of ginger, peeled & finely chopped

4 tbsps of soy sauce

2 tsps of MSG (optional)

5 tbsps of rice wine vinegar

6 tbsps of tomato ketchup

4 tbsps of sugar

4 tbsps of plain white flour

5 tbsps of corn flour

3 tbsps of Kashmiri chilli powder

3 tbsps of mango powder (optional)

1 tbsp of toasted sesame oil

Vegetable oil, enough to deep fry the paneer

Salt

Pepper

Note: This recipe contains Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) used throughout the culinary world as a flavour enhancer. MSG is often (unfairly) vilified, but contrary to popular belief, is not synthetic, and is actually derived from natural ingredients such as kelp dashi or sugar beet, and is fermented in a similar way to yogurt.

Serves 4

Time 60 mins

Instructions

Soak the Kashmiri chillis in 300ml of boiling water for 30 mins, reserving the soaking liquor to use later.

Next, cube the paneer into 2cm chunks and set aside for frying later.

Prep onion, peppers, celery, spring onions, garlic, and Birdseye chillis and set aside.

Peel the ginger and add it to a blender with the soaked Kashmiri chillis scantly covered with the reserved soaking liquor. Blitz into a fine paste.

Mix 4 tbsps of flour and 4 tbsps of corn flour in a large mixing bowl. Next add the Kashmiri chilli and mango powder to the bowl with 2 tsps of salt & 1 tsp of cracked black pepper. Whisk in enough cold water until a smooth batter forms, the batter should be the consistency of double cream and coat the back of a spoon (we used 100ml of cold water).

To deep fry the paneer, half fill a large wok with vegetable oil and heat to 190°C, or until the oil starts to shimmer.

Dip each cube of paneer in the batter and into oil until the batter is golden and crisp, remove from the oil, allow to rest on a tray lined with kitchen paper. We cooked our paneer in batches of 5, to ensure even and crisp cooking of the batter.

Once all of your paneer is cooked, carefully pour the hot oil from the wok into a heatproof bowl. When the oil has cooled down, you can either reuse it or throw away.

Clean your wok with a piece of kitchen towel to remove any excess oil or stray batter.

In a small bowl, whisk the remaining 1 tbsp of corn flour with enough cold water to create a slurry the consistency of milk, and set aside to use to thicken the sauce later on.

Place your wok over a high heat and add 2 tbsps of fresh vegetable oil for 1-2 minutes until searing hot. Once your oil is hot, remove from the heat and swirl the oil around the work to create a non-stick surface.

Return the wok to high heat and begin to stir fry. First, add your white onion chunks to the wok for 3-4 minutes until translucent, stirring occasionally. Next, add your green peppers and celery for 2-3 minutes. Add your garlic, fresh chillis and spring onion whites for 2-3 minutes until the garlic is fragrant. Next add the Kashmiri chilli and ginger paste, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, tomato ketchup, sugar, and MSG with 100ml of water to the wok and stir continuously until the mixture comes together, this should take 2-3 minutes. Give the corn flour slurry a quick stir and mix into the wok, this will give the sauce a good shine to it. At this point you might wish to add some more water to loosen the sauce slightly.

Carefully toss the paneer in the sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. To serve, drizzle with with sesame oil and garnish with the reserved green spring onion slices. We enjoyed ours with a side of steamed rice.

Poppy MistDecember 1, 2021