I have plenty of flops in the kitchen. In both baking and cooking. But usually, nobody has to witness them but me! That’s one of the perks of living on your own and managing your own food. But last week, when my parents were in town, I was excited to try out a new recipe I thought they would like – a crispy rice and roasted paneer salad. It was an amalgamation of recipes that I wanted to try and merge together. But… they did not belong together. The crispy rice was crispy, and the coleslaw was crunchy, so it was like exclusively eating the crunchy parts of a salad. And then there was some roasted paneer. The paneer was great, but otherwise it was a meal of… horrific texture.
So unfortunately my family had to witness a major kitchen flop and it was dinner, so they had to eat it. I knew there was a good recipe somewhere in that idea though, so I returned to the drawing board. Obviously, the crispy rice had to go. (You could literally hear people chewing it at the table because it was so crunchy.) But the coleslaw, dressing, and paneer were great. So it was more about adding. Mainly, adding textures.
It became obvious that a grain bowl was in order! Something Sweetgreen style, where you get your protein, veggies, and grains all in a bowl with some dressing. Then it was just bout adding (non-crispy) quinoa, and more veggies (tomato and cucumber, nothing crunchy). Now we’re talking!!
This version of the idea was, dare I say, delicious. Sorry to my family for having to stomach through the original. I will make this version next time you’re in town!
For those wondering, roasted paneer is quite tasty. Paneer has some great nutritional stats (high in protein – 28g for 360 calories), and is great for adding spices to flavor it. No wonder it’s used in curries. But just adding some spices and oil and roasting it in the oven really makes it something special, and the roasted cheesiness of it really brings the bowl together! If you’re wondering where to buy it, I get mine at Whole Foods.
The dressing just uses some of the same spices from the paneer, and makes everything cohesive. Texture wise, it really works. And, as I just had reinforced, texture is huge when it comes to food.
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PinDescription
Makes one bowl, but is easily scaled up to make however many you’d like
Ingredients
Roasted paneer
- 1/2 block of paneer
- 1 1/2 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp each of turmeric, garam masala, cumin, paprika, and garlic powder
For the dressing:
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp each of turmeric, garam masala, cumin, paprika, and garlic powder
For the bowl:
- Handful of coleslaw
- handful diced cucumber
- handful chopped cherry tomatoes
- 1/2–3/4 cup Quinoa
Instructions
- First, roast your paneer. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Dice your paneer into bite sized pieces, and then toss with the olive oil and spices. Lay out on a baking sheet, making sure they’re all on one layer and not piled, and roast for 20 minutes.
- While they’re in the oven, prepare your quinoa according to package directions, and dice/chop your vegetables.
- To make the dressing, simply whisk all of the dressing ingredients together.
- Once paneer is out of the oven, assemble your bowl but putting everything together and then topping with the dressing.