Recipe: London-Style Paneer Kathi Roll

Instagram threw up, the other day, a video of a London market where for a thrifty 3 pounds you could buy a giant Paneer Kathi Roll.

It showed the kathi roll stall owner rustling up the components of this delicious-looking roll and then bundling them into Frankie-style maida roti and you could just about guess what he was sticking into it.

Paneer ain't my fave food, but that roll looked lip-smackingly good. Since the daughter is here visiting and likes quite a bit of paneer stuff, I decided to attempt it.

After two tries it came pretty perfect and my daughter said it was easily a 8 or 9 on 10. The paneer needs marination for 8-12 hours beforehand. Here goes...

London-Style Paneer Kathi Rolls

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For marinating the paneer

• 400 gm soft paneer (either homemade or, among store-bought paneer, I prefer soft and creamy ID Paneer)
• 1 tsp salt
• 350 gm yoghurt
• 3-4 tbsp sarson or mustard oil
• 2 large onions
• 1-inch piece ginger
• 10 pods garlic
• ½ tsp haldi or turmeric powder,
• 1 tsp lal mirchi or chilly powder
• Oil for frying the paneer

For the maida roti for the paneer roll

• 2 cups maida or all-purpose flour
• Pinch salt
• Water
• Oil for frying the rotis later before serving

For the raita

• 4-5 tbsp finely chopped fresh pudina or mint
• 3-4 tbsp green chutney
• 1 cup yoghurt
• Pinch salt

For the garnish inside the roll

• Sprinkling chaat masala
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 2 large onions, sliced, deep fried to make birasta or crispy red fried onions
• 1 hara Shimla mirch or green capsicum, cored, deseeded, sliced
• 4 tbsp chopped green dhania or coriander or cilantro
• 4 tsp chopped kairi or green mango
• Green chutney on the side, for serving

Method

For the paneer

• Grind all the ingredients (except, of course, the paneer and the oil for frying) for the paneer marinade in a blender/mixer and keep aside.
• Cut the paneer into 1-inch chunks.
• Place the paneer in a container with a cover and pour the marinade over it and marinate the paneer, covered, in the fridge overnight.
• Before making the kathi rolls, pan fry the paneer in a large frying pan with a little oil and a little of the marinade till light pink with spots and not too dry ie paneer should be still moist with the marinade.
  Keep aside and let it remain warm and moist.

For the maida roti for the paneer roll

• Knead the maida, salt, into a stiff dough adding as little water as possible.
  Cover and rest the dough for half an hour.
• Divide the dough into four portions and roll each portion into large maida rotis about as thick as a paratha, of about 9-inch diameter each.
• In a large frying pan roast each of them, without oil, over medium heat, till they are cooked and begin to develop dark pink and light brown blotches.
  Keep aside to cool.

For the raita

• Mix the salt, mint, dahi, green chutney together.
• Refrigerate.

Assembly of the kathi roll

• Just before serving fry up each already prepared maida roti on both sides in a frying pan, over medium heat, with a little bit of oil, but do not let the rotis get crisp or they won't form rolls and will crack.
• Place a fried roti on a plate and make a line of 4-5 pieces of paneer in the middle.
  Pile slices of onions, slices of capsicum and 1 tsp chopped kairi on the paneer.
  Drizzle a few tsp pudina raita across the paneer pieces.
  Then sprinkle 2 tbsp birasta, 1 tbsp chopped dhania and a little chaat masala.
• Carefully roll it up and serve while still warm, with a little chutney on the side, if preferred.

Zelda's Note: In addition to the pudina raita, I added a little bit of the leftover marinade onto the paneer while making the roll for more flavour.

You could use the same recipe to make Chicken Kathi Rolls, just replace the paneer with an equivalent amount of chopped boneless chicken and marinate and then later fry.

To veganise this recipe, use an equivalent amount of tofu instead of paneer and vegan yoghurt for marination and the pudina raita.

Instead of frying the paneer in a pan, you could barbecue or grill the pieces in a microwave or oven.

To make green chutney from scratch use the green chutney preparation from this recipe.

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