Paneer Rice with Chickpeas & Vegetables

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Jasmine

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Sometimes you’re craving Indian food but it’s a weeknight and you don’t have the time or energy to do the full shebang (I know that if I’m making a curry; I want fresh naan and also rice…) You could order in, or you could try this one pot paneer rice!

INGREDIENTS

Aromatics, flavour and spices:

Ghee

Garlic

Red onion

Green chilli (or any other medium chilli pepper)

Ginger

Bay leaves

Cardamom pods

Ground coriander

Ground cumin

Garam Masala

Cayenne pepper

Ground turmeric

(You can also sub in a curry powder mix of your choice!)

Vegetable stock cube

Vegetables:

Red pepper (or any other colour bell pepper)

Baby plum tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes)

Medium carrot

Baby plum tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes)

Baby leaf spinach

Substance:

Potato

Basmati rice (for this cook time as a one pot, it will need to be white rice)

Chickpeas (pre-cooked)

Toppings:

Fresh coriander

Lemon juice

TIPS & NOTES

This is an easy recipe but there are a couple of things to note. Firstly, whilst soaking the rice 30 minutes before you start cooking is optional, rinsing it very well isn’t! To ensure you get fluffy rice rather than clumps, you need to rinse it until the water is pretty much clear. Honestly though, I find soaking whilst I prep the ingredients and get everything else underway works fine. I also recommend ‘blooming’ the spices to extract the most flavour out of pre-ground spices – this just means adding them to the melted ghee and allowing them to foam for 30 seconds or so before adding in aromatics. Finally, you need to make sure you cut the potato into pretty small chunks. As the slowest-cooking element here, it’s important that by the time the rice has completely absorbed all of the water, your potatoes aren’t still rock solid! The smaller your dice, the faster they will cook. Alternatively, parboil them in cold water for 20 mins as you start your prep.

As a side-note, I personally like to use firm paneer and pan fry it, however you can use a softer paneer if you prefer and the pan frying is optional. If you’re plant-based, you can substitute the paneer for extra-firm tofu and simply use a neutral cooking oil rather than ghee.

One Pot Paneer, Chickpea & Vegetable Rice

  • Servings: 3-4
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

A quick weeknight dinner that also makes a great meal prep with paneer, chickpeas and Indian flavours

No special equipment or advance prep needed (optional: pre-soak the rice 30 minutes before you start cooking)


Ingredients

  • 100g of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
  • 225g of paneer (cut into bitesized cubes)
  • 4 cloves of garlic (finely chopped, grated or pressed)
  • 1 small red onion (or half a larger one) (finely diced)
  • 10cm piece of root ginger (remove the bark and finely chop or grate)
  • 1 small green chilli (finely chopped, optional: de-seed)
  • 1 medium carrot (peeled and finely diced)
  • 1 red bell pepper (diced)
  • 100g of baby plum tomatoes
  • 1 medium potato (cut into small chunks, optional: peeled)
  • 1 vegetable stock cube (dissolved in 300ml of boiling water immediately prior to use)
  • 200g of white basmati rice (rinsed thoroughly)
  • 50g of spinach (optional: aqroughly chopped)
  • 2 dried bay leaves
  • 5 green cardamom pods
  • 1 tsp of ground turmeric
  • 1 tsp of ground cumin
  • 1 tsp of ground coriander
  • 1 tsp of cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp of Garam Masala
  • A small handful (c. 3g) of fresh coriander (de-stemmed, optional: roughly chopped)
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 10g of ghee
  • Salt and pepper to taste


Directions

  1. Boil the kettle and over a medium heat, add the paneer cubes to a wide-based, non-stick lidded pan and fry on each side until golden (this should take 5-7 minutes) – remove from the pan once cooked
  2. Increase to a medium-high heat and add the ghee to the same pan, once melted and fragrant, add the whole and ground spices, allow to bloom for 30 seconds (they should foam slightly) and then add the chilli, garlic, ginger and onions
  3. Reduce the heat to medium, season the aromatics to taste and cook until fragrant (this should take a couple of minutes)
  4. Add the carrot, tomatoes, potato and pepper, season again and sauté for 5-7 minutes – prepare the vegetable stock by dissolving the cube in 300ml of boiling water
  5. Add the rice to the pan and toast for a couple of minutes before adding the vegetable stock – cover and reduce the heat to a simmer
  6. It should take around 10-15 minutes for the rice to cook and all of the watee to absorb – stir the mixture halfway through this cook time
  7. Add the spinach and chickpeas and re-add the paneer, stir through, cover and allow to steam through fof 5 minutes (remove thw whole spices at this point, if you like)
  8. Finish off the dish with the lemon juice, adjust the seasoning if required and sprinkle over the coriander (I served mine topped with a little Greek yoghurt)

Let me know if you try this one pot paneer rice!

Check out the recipe video here:

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