Paneer Salad

• To make this Paneer Salad vegan see notes

Hi guys hope you are all well and have had some time to try some of our recipes. This one is going to be a favourite of yours I am sure. It’s a great one to take to parties or to dine alfresco with. The sharpness of the onions and the earthiness of the lentils give this Paneer salad the humph it needs. It is one of those meals that makes you feel more healthy just by eating it. This salad can be made any time but we just love summertime, when the tomatoes have that fresh sweet taste with just a slight acidy tartness. The mango chutney is a game changer in this paneer salad. The spicy kick is so subtle as it gets balanced out with the sweetness, see if you agree with us. The pickled red onions have a nice salty sour kick that we think balances it perfectly. We omit the sugar in pickling these onions as the salad has a lot of sweetness from everything else. Try and use the Aleppo pepper if you can as it has a distinctive flavour, if you can’t find it you could use sweet paprika with a little cayenne pepper added as this Aleppo pepper is not a fierce heat but a subtle one just don’t add chilli There is only a little cooking involved so this is just great when it is just too hot to cook in the kitchen. You could even BBQ the paneer, just marinade it in the same way. So guys get chopping and make this super easy salad. This Paneer salad is so easy to double up or just make another pack of paneer to make it go a little further.

* On one occasion we couldn't get Paneer cheese so we used carrots with the same marinade and this worked very well. Chop into batons and roast for 40 minutes and it makes this delicious salad vegan.

Ingredients

160g Spinach(baby leaf)

250g Puy Lentils ( 1 vacuum pack)

350g Tomatoes

1/2 Bunch of chopped coriander

2 small red onions

1 lemon

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbs cider vinegar

For the dressing

1 1/2 teaspoon cumin

2 1/2 tbs cider vinegar

1 lime

3tbs mango chutney

For the Paneer

1 pack of paneer

1tbs oil

2 tsp tandoori masala powder

1/2 tsp Aleppo chili

Method.

1. Slice the Paneer in half then slice into rectangles.

2. Mix the oil, tandoori masala and Aleppo pepper together and coat the Paneer leave for as long as possible minimum an hour.

3. Slice the onion in half then thinly slice. Add to a small bowl with the juice of the lemon, 1/2 tsp salt and the cider vinegar. Leave to pickle whilst making the salad.

4. Wash, dry and roughly chop the spinach. Add to large bowl or plate.

5. Add the chopped coriander..

6. Cut the tomatoes in half and add to the bowl.

7. Add the puy lentils.

8. Season well.

9. Mix the juice of 1 lime and the zest with the 1 tbs olive oil, 1 tsp cumin , 1 1/2 tbs cider vinegar and 3-4 tbs mango chutney. Mix well and season to taste.

10. Add the dressing to the salad.

11. Fry the paneer for a few minutes each side and add to the salad.

12. Add the onions and any extra liquid to finish off the dish.