Paneer Patiyala (Restaurant Style Papad Paneer Rolls)
Papad rolls stuffed with spiced grated paneer, shallow-fried, and served over a tomato-cashew-cream gravy.
Equipment
- Blender
- Heavy-bottomed pan or kadhai
- Pastry brush
Ingredients
For the paneer filling
- 7 oz paneer about 200 g, grated or finely crumbled
- 1 small yellow onion minced, about 1/3 cup
- 1 green chili minced
- 1 tablespoon cilantro stems finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon kasuri methi crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon amchur (dry mango powder)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 teaspoon oil
For the papad rolls
- 6-8 thin urad or moong papads
- water for brushing
- 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour mixed with 2 teaspoons water, for sealing, optional
- 2-3 tablespoons oil for shallow-frying
For the gravy
- 2 medium tomatoes quartered
- 1 medium yellow onion roughly chopped
- 8-10 raw cashews
- 1 inch ginger chopped
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup water for boiling
- 1/4 cup water for blending, plus more as needed
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cloves
- 1/2 inch cinnamon stick
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
- pinch sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons heavy cream plus 1 tablespoon to swirl
- 1 teaspoon kasuri methi crushed
To finish
- fresh cilantro chopped
- heavy cream extra swirls
- kasuri methi extra crushed, optional
Instructions
Prep
- Grate or crumble the paneer. If it feels dry, mix in 1 teaspoon cream or milk.
- Whisk the optional flour and water into a thin slurry and keep it nearby.
- Set the papads out so you can work one at a time. Do not wet them yet.
Make the filling
- Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a pan over medium. Add the minced onion and green chili. Cook 60 to 90 seconds, just until the onion softens. Do not brown it.
- Add the paneer, cilantro stems, kasuri methi, Kashmiri chili, amchur, and salt. Stir 60 seconds. The filling should look moist and hold when you pinch it. Take it off the heat and cool 5 minutes.
Make the gravy paste
- Add the tomatoes, chopped onion, cashews, ginger, garlic, and 1/2 cup water to a pan. Cover and boil over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the tomatoes collapse and the onion is soft.
- Cool 5 minutes. Blend with 1/4 cup fresh water until completely smooth. The paste should look orange-red and silky. If it is gritty, blend another 30 seconds.
Cook the gravy
- Heat the ghee and butter in the kadhai over medium. Add bay leaf, cloves, and cinnamon. Let them smell fragrant, about 20 seconds.
- Add the Kashmiri chili and coriander. Stir 5 seconds so the chili blooms in the fat, then add the tomato-cashew paste. Cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring, until a few oil specks show at the edges. If it sticks, splash in a tablespoon of water.
- Add salt and the pinch of sugar. Simmer 2 minutes. Stir in 2 to 3 tablespoons cream and the crushed kasuri methi. The gravy should coat a spoon. Loosen with a splash of water if it is too tight. Keep it warm on the lowest heat. Do not add the rolls yet.
Roll and fry the papad
- Work one papad at a time. Brush one side lightly with water. It should flex, not go soggy.
- Put 2 tablespoons of filling in the center. Fold in the sides, then roll or fold into a tight parcel. Seal the edge with a drop of water or a dab of flour slurry.
- Heat 2 to 3 tablespoons oil in a wide pan over medium. Shallow-fry the rolls 45 to 60 seconds per side, until blistered gold. Drain on a plate. Do not stack them while they are hot or they steam and soften.
Serve
- Spoon the hot gravy into a warm bowl. Swirl a little cream and scatter cilantro.
- Add the papad rolls on top right before you take the bowl to the table. Serve hot.
Notes
Brush the papad. Do not soak it. Soaked papad tears and sticks.
Shallow-fry. Deep-frying makes the gravy taste oily.
Add rolls at the table. They go leathery in gravy.
No turmeric if you want restaurant-red gravy.
Leftover filling: stir a spoon into the gravy so nothing is wasted.
If papad keeps cracking, roast 2 papads, crush them, sandwich filling between two thin paneer slabs, dip in flour slurry, coat in crushed papad, and shallow-fry.
For a Jain plate, skip onion and garlic. Bloom a pinch of hing in the ghee. Boil extra tomato (3 instead of 2) with the cashews and ginger. Filling is paneer, chili, cilantro, kasuri methi, and amchur only.
Vegan: extra-firm tofu, crumbled and squeezed dry, in place of paneer. Cashew cream instead of dairy cream. The papad method stays the same.
Veg patiala is the sibling dish: mixed veg in the filling instead of only paneer. Same gravy, same rolls. Not this recipe.
Gravy keeps 2 days in the fridge. Roll and fry papad the night you serve. Leftover rolls are soggy by morning.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!