Paneer Or Cottage Cheese Croquettes / Finger Food / Fritters

Paneer or cottage cheese croquettes.

Perfect for party finger food or evening snacks.

These crisp outside and soft inside croquettes are delicious and easy to make.

Paneer or cottage cheese is used in it with potatoes.

For long years, milk and milk products has been most important part of the diet of human. Paneer is also one of the most important milk products, which is used by the human fraternity as a complete proteinecious and healthy food. It is very famous in India by the name Cottage cheese or Chenna which is prepared by the milk at home or factories. It is used for years to make variety of nutritious foods for eating purposes. It has very attractive look of white color and nice taste and very famous amongst all the milk products. It is much liked by various men to eat it raw instead of fried. Paneer is the rich source of calcium, phosphorus, vitamins, minerals and protein which are required by the body in high proportions for healthy growth and development.

Source

Our this week’s 107th #Foodiemonday bloghop theme is party dish. I am presenting this paneer croquettes as a party finger food for this event.

Recipe is very easy. You can prepare everything one day before and keep in refrigerator. Take out and deep fry just before serving. You can shallow fry these if you like.

Recipe

Paneer or cottage cheese – 1 cup, grated

Potato – 2 large, boiled

Onion – 2, sliced

Green chilli – 3, finely chopped

Ginger – 1 inch piece, grated

Tomato – 2 chopped

Cumin seeds – 1/2 teaspoon

Coriander leaves – handful, chopped

Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon

Garam masala powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Black pepper powder – 1/4 teaspoon

Chilli flakes – 1/2 teaspoon

Turmeric powder – 1/4 teaspoon

Tomato sauce – 2 tablespoon

Oil – 2 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Breadcrumbs – as require

For batter

Refined flour – 4 tablespoon

Rice flour – 2 tablespoon

Salt and pepper to taste

Water as require

Oil for deep fry

Method

Peel and mash or grate the boiled potatoes. Keep aside.

Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds. Let it splutter.

Add onion and green chilli. Fry till onion becomes light brown.

Add tomatoes and ginger. Saute for 1-2 minutes. If you like you can also add 1 teaspoon garlic paste or 3-4 crushed garlic with it. I didn’t.

Add coriander leaves, cumin powder, garam masala powder, black pepper powder, turmeric powder, chilli flakes and salt.

Saute till the tomato becomes mushy.

Add mashed or grated paneer or cottage cheese. Mix well and add tomato sauce. Saute till the mixture dried up completely.

Now add mashed or grated potatoes. Mix well. Cook for 2-3 minutes more.

Switch off the flame. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Delicious isn’t it? You can serve it as a side dish with any bread or make sandwiches with it. You can omit potatoes and make with paneer only.

You can also add little lemon juice or chaat masala if you like. If you like it more hot increase the amount of chilli. And you can make it less spicy by omitting chilli flakes and black pepper powder. If you are making it for kids use less chilli.

Let the mixture cool down. Mash with your hand again or use a potato masher. Add 1-2 tablespoon breadcrumbs if require for binding. Instead of breadcrumbs you can use oats powder or roasted chickpea powder too.

But don’t add more than 2-3 tablespoon.

Make small balls. I have made medium sized 19 balls. You can make small bite size for party finger food.

Spread breadcrumbs on a plate.

Mix refined flour and rice flour in a bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add water gradually to make a semi thick lump free batter. Don’t make it runny. You can use one egg with salt and pepper instead of flour batter.

Dip the balls in the flour batter then roll on breadcrumbs. Cover with breadcrumbs from all the sides.

Prepare all the balls like this. You can keep these prepared balls in refrigerator and fry just before serving.

Heat sufficient oil in a pan. Fry the balls in it. Flip and fry evenly from all the sides.

When the balls becomes brown remove from oil and place on a paper towel. You can shallow fry these if you like.