Ingredients

• cottage cheese (paneer)- 250g
• oil to deep fry
• boondi- 1 cup
• For garlic chutney:
• garlic- 8-10 cloves
• oil- 1 tsp
• red chilli powder- 1 tbsp
• salt to taste
• For batter:
• gram flour (besan- 1 cup
• garlic- 1.5 inch piece
• ginger- 5 cloves
• turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
• soda bicarbonate- a pinch
• salt to taste

How to Make Crunchy Paneer Pakoda

• Wash and cut cottage cheese into two inch by half inch by half inch sized batons. Slit each baton into half, leaving one edge intact for filling. Crush boondi with your hand and keep aside to make garlic chutney. Peel and roast garlic in one teaspoon of oil.
• Mix it with red chilli powder and salt and grind to a smooth paste. To prepare the batter, peel and wash the ginger and garlic, and grind it together to make a paste.
• Mix gram flour, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, soda bicarbonate, and salt with this paste.
• Add sufficient water and whisk well to make a batter of a coating consistency.
• Rest the batter for about fifteen minutes. Stuff garlic chutney into the slit of each cottage cheese baton.
• Heat sufficient oil in a kadai, and dip each baton of cottage cheese into the batter.
• Roll it into the crushed boondi and deep-fry it on medium heat till crisp and golden brown.
• Serve hot with a chutney of your choice.