Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Waffling Leftovers: Paneer

Ok, so this one is a bit different.  By now, I'm getting more, uh, creative in my waffling.  Pizza, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, casseroles ... those are child's play.  It was time to push the envelope, and tackle a new cuisine: Indian food!

Of course, if you are new to my waffling leftovers adventures, you might want to start here.

So, paneer: Will it Waffle?  YES!!!!!
The Original: Leftover Paneer.
I had a bunch of chunks of leftover, already cooked, paneer in my freezer.  They really didn't look appealing, did they?

I know from experience that paneer freezes and reheats quite well.  You can easily just re-pan fry it and add it into standard indian dishes like palak paneer.  One time, my George Foreman grill was sitting on my counter, so I decided to try putting slices on my grill, I'm not really sure why.  It was sitting there, and seemed like a good idea.

It worked beautifully!  I adored how crispy the exterior got, and lamented that I always had paneer smothered in sauces, so it is usually soft on the outside.  I love crunch, and this was magic.
Paneer Waffling ...
So, the next time I went to use up some of the frozen paneer, you know where I headed.  Right past the stove-top, past the oven, and even past the grill to ... the waffle iron!

My assumption was that waffling would work much like grilling on the George Foreman, and I'd get a gorgeous crust on it from the contact points.

I was right, and this was actually probably the easiest thing I've ever waffled, no extra steps necessary.
Waffled Paneer!
The only misstep I had was not watching it closely enough, as I scurried around gathering assorted dipping sauces, so it did get a bit more cooked than I was intending.  But, still awesome.

What I loved about this was how fun it was to eat.  So crispy and dunkable!  Sure, you can just slather it in sauce, and it does stay crispy, which Ojan did.  But I actually ended up cutting it into slices, and (gasp!) eating it with my fingers, dunking it into different sauces and chutneys.  Just imagine the paneer sticks are fish sticks, chicken fingers, or even fries, and let your imagination go wild.

So, I have a new plan.  Does it often happen to you that you have leftover sauce and no protein or naan left when you get indian food?  I do.  Next time this happens, I'm going to save the sauce, pop it in the freezer, and then serve it with my waffled paneer.

I highly recommend this.  It also works fine if you want to be even lazier and just buy a bar of chutney or bottled sauce.  You'll thank me later, I promise.
Waffled Paneer v2.0.
A few months later, I again had leftover paneer, and waffled it again.  This time, I kept a closer watch.  It was also a thicker piece of paneer.

This turned out even better.  It did not burn and the cheese stayed nice and moist.  I loved the crispy bits where it made contact with the grill.  I really, really loved this.

Served with a mango chutney I drizzled over it.  So so good.

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