This recipe is a good way to get the family to eat vegetables. I cheated my family to eating zucchini (courgette/turai/turi) this way! My family loves paneer (home made fresh cheese) so i thought why not combine it with some healthy vegetable? i did not think i could get away with it but i did!! As you can see from the picture i dont use too much oil in my food, but if you like your food with that little bit more of oil, please do add some. I also cooked this in spanish olive oil (not extra virgen) so you can do that too to add to the nutrients of this dish!
To make home made paneer thats soft, and tastes yummy do follow my video on how to make paneer

INGREDIENTS FOR 2 :
Paneer made out of 1 litre of milk, cubed
1 cup of finely chopped onions
1 cup of finely chopped zucchini /courgette/turai (peel and then chop )
1″ piece finely chopped ginger
2 green chillies, finely chopped if you like it spicy
4 curry leaves
1/2 cup of finely chopped red tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon each of cumin and coriander powder
1/2 cup of finely chopped coriander leaves
salt to taste
2 tablespoons of spanish olive oil
1/2 cup of the whey from making the paneer of water or vegetable stock
METHOD.
Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the ginger and sautee till it starts changing color and imediately add the onions and cover the pan. Sautee the onions mixing from time to time till the onions start changing color. Add the zucchini and mix and cover till the zuchini softenes. Add all the spices and the green chillies and cook for a few seconds. When you see the whole mixture is dried add the chopped tomatoes and cook till the tomatoes soften. Add the coriander leaves and the curry leaves. Add the whey/water/stock and bring to a boil. Gently add in the cubed paneer and cook till the sauce has thickened a bit and the paneer is nice and soft.
Serve with naan, parathas or rotis. By the way…my family ate it without realising it had zucchini and when i told them they were zapped!!! Giggles!!!
NITU DIDI TIP:
For a jain recipe replace the onions with only zuchini and omit the ginger and add cumin seeds instead.
If you dont want to make the paneer at home you can use store bought paneer or even use fresh cheese . Fresh cheese tends to get a bit rubbery when cooked for more than a few minutes so i suggest you add it last.
HEALTH BENEFITS OF EATING ZUCCHINI:
Zucchini is low in fat and helps lower cholesterol. This light and easy to digest vegetable is rich in Vitamins A and C. In India we tend to give nursing mothers zucchini as its nourshing and does not give the baby colic. Sometimes our nursing babies suffer colic pain because of what we mothers tend to eat.

Nitu Chugani©