Paneer or cottage cheese is an essential part of South Asian cooking. It is a versatile dairy product; it is used for desserts, snacks or for main course cooking. In India it is known by various names like in Hindi - paneer, Bengali - chena. Following is compiled a few recipes of panner that one can try at the comfort of home.

1. Paneer Butter Masala Ingredients:

•Paneer - 100gms
•Tomatoes- 250gms
•Ginger - 10gms
•Garlic - 10gms
•Red chilli powder -1 tsp
•Coriander powder - 5gms
•Onions - 15gms
•Butter 10gms
•Kasoori methi - 1/2tsp
•Garam masala - 1/4 tsp
•Cream - 1/2 tsp
•Chopped coriander - 1/2 tsp
•Sugar - a pinch

Method
Blanch the tomatoes. De-skin. Make a coarse paste of tomatoes. In a kadai, heat oil and add cumin, chopped onion and fry for a while. Add ginger-garlic paste. Add chilli powder and coriander powder. Cook for a minute. Then add pureed tomatoes and cook well. Finish by adding fried paneer and kasoori methi. Take out in a bowl and garnish with garam masala powder and chopped coriander. Finish by adding the garam masala powder, kasoori methi and chopped coriander.

2. Chilli Paneer Ingredients

• Paneer - 1\2 kg (square or finger cut)

For Paste:

• Maida - 1 tbsp
•Corn flour - 1 tbsp
•Soya sauce - 1 tbsp
•Ajinamoto - 3/4 tbsp
•Salt and black pepper
•little water

For Gravy:

•Butter or oil - 1 tbsp
•Green chillies - 6 to 7 (cut length wise)
•Capsicum - 2 (cut length wise)
•Onion - 2 or 3(cut length wise)
•Ajinamoto - 1/2 tbsp
•Soya sauce - 1 tbsp
•Tomato sauce - 2 tbsp
•Water - 1/2 cup
•Tomato colour - 1 pinch
•Black pepper
•Salt to taste

Method
For Paste: Mix all these things and make a thick paste. Put paneer pieces in it and mix it and fry like pakoras.
For Gravy: Heat butter in a kadai and sauté green chillies for a minute. Now add all above ingredients and sauté for a minute. Now add paneer pieces and mix

3. Paneer Lollipop Ingredients

•2 cups grated Paneer
•1 inch ginger grated
•3-4 cloves garlic, minced
•2-3 green chillies
•2 large boiled potatoes
•1 medium chopped red onion
•1/2 tbsp soy sauce
•salt to taste
•13-16 pieces of babycorn
•2-1/2 tbsp Cornflour
•1/4 cup of all purpose flour
•Coriander chopped

Method
Mash the potatoes and add the rest of the ingredients except all purpose flour. Make small smooth rounds of the dough. Now pierce the dough round with the thicker end of the baby corn and shape them into drumsticks. Set them in the fridge for 20mins before frying. Dust the lollipop with some flour and fry the lollipop in oil. Make sure it"s evenly browned it all the sides. Serve hot with ketchup or chilli garlic sauce.

4. Kadai Paneer Ingredients

•250 gms paneer, cubed
•5-6 medium tomatoes, chopped
•2 green chillies, chopped
•6-7 garlic, crushed
•1/2 inch ginger, half crushed and half julienned
•2 green capsicum, julienned
•5-6 Kashmiri red chillies
•1/2 tbsp coriander seeds, roasted
•2 tsp crushed kasoori methi
•1/2 tsp garam masala powder
•1/2 cup chopped coriander
•salt or black salt

Method
In wok heat oil add the crushed ginger and garlic. Sauté then add the chopped tomatoes and cook till they become soft. Pound the coriander seeds and red chillies to a roughly fine powder and add to the tomatoes. Sauté the tomatoes till the whole mixture become like a paste and starts to leave oil. Now add the capsicum julienne and chopped green chillies and cook for 8-10 minutes. Add salt and garam masala powder. Mix these with the rest of the masala. Now add the paneer and cook for 2-3mins more. Lastly add kasoori methi, ginger julienne and coriander leaves and sauté for 2-3mins. Serve the kadai paneer, hot with rotis or naans.

5. Palak Paneer Ingredients

•2 - fresh palak bunches
•5 - garlic flakes
•1 inch - ginger piece
•1 cup - boiled milk
•250gms - paneer
•2 to 3 - medium sized onions
•2 - green chillies
•2 tbsp - olive oil
•Salt to taste

Method
Chop the cleanly washed palak, along with leaves. Add the chopped palak and a small piece of ginger into the boiling milk. Let it boil till the palak becomes very soft. Remove milk and keep palak aside to cool. Fry onion and chillies in little oil till onion turns golden brown in colour. Add fried onions and chillies along with palak, garlic flakes and ginger into the blender. Fry the finely chopped onion in rest of the oil till its colour changes to golden brown. Add the palak paste to this and add salt to taste. Floating of oil indicates that the palak is sufficiently cooked. Add the fried paneer pieces in the palak. Let it cook for another 5mins and then serve.

6. Bread Paneer Rolls Ingredients

•6 white bread slices
•1 cup shredded paneer
•1/2 tsp salt
•1/2 tsp cumin seeds
•Pinch of black pepper
•1 tsp ginger grated
•2 tbsp chopped coriander
•1 tsp chopped green chilli
•1-2 tbsp hot milk
•2 tbsp ghee

Method
Mix well all the ingredients, except milk and bread. Trim the edges of the bread slices. Roll the bread very thin using rolling pin. Spread a thin layer of the mix over 3/4 of the bread slice, and roll it into a cylinder, making sure ends are sealed using water. Lightly butter all around and grill on skillet over medium heat. Serve them hot.

7. Matar Paneer Pulao Ingredients

•1 cup Basmati, soaked for at least 20 min
•1 onion, chopped
•2-3 garlic cloves, minced
•1 cup boiled peas,
•1-2 green chillies,
•1 cup cubed paneer
•1/4 cup cashews, dry roasted
•1 bay leaf
•1 tsp cumin
•3-4 cloves whole
•2-3 green cardamom, slightly crushed
•salt to taste
•few sprigs of cilantro and mint for garnish

Method
In a skillet, add 1 tbsp oil and fry the paneer lightly. Drop the paneer in a bowl of cold water. Again add 1/2 tsp oil, sauté cumin, chillies, bay leaf, cardamom, cloves, onions and garlic with some salt until onions get soft. Add the drained rice and sauté until the rice gets translucent. Add 2 cups water, close the lid and cook for 10-15 minutes. When the rice is cooked, add the paneer, peas and cashews and toss them altogether. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

8. Paneer Sandwich Ingredients

•1 loaf Bread
•1/2 cup grated Paneer
•1 Tomatoes
•1 Onions
•2 Green chillies
•1/4 tsp Red chilli powder
•Salt to taste Butter as needed

Method
Chop onions, chillies and tomatoes. Mix the grated paneer with chopped vegetables, salt, red chilli powder and keep aside. Take two bread slices and butter them, put some paneer mixture on one slice and cover it with other bread slice. Put this in sandwich toaster until the bread turns crispy and brown. Serve with ketchup.

9. Paneer Kulcha Ingredients For the dough

•3 cups all purpose flour
•1/2 tsp Baking powder
•1/8th tsp Baking Soda
•1 tbsp sugar
•salt to taste
•1/4 cup oil
•1/2 cup Yogurt
•1 tbsp Ghee

For the filling

•1 red onion
•2-3 green chillies, sliced
•1/4 tsp carom seeds
•1/2 tsp grated ginger
•1/4 tsp cumin
•1/4 tsp fennel
•1 cup paneer
•few sprigs of chopped cilantro
•a little salt

Method
Place all the dry ingredients for the dough together and mix well. Now add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture. Mix well. Place this mixture on a lightly floured surface And knead well for few minutes until it becomes smooth pliable dough. Place it in a bowl, cover and let it sit for 1-2 hours. Meanwhile mix all the ingredients for the filling together in another bowl. Take a small ball from the dough and roll into a very small circle. Put some fillings on the dough and cover it from all sides. Roll it out to a desired thickness making sure that the filling does not come out of the dough. Now place this on a greased non-stick pan and cook until browned on both the sides. Serve them warm.

10. Paneer Pie Ingredients For Filling

•1 cup of sliced Apples
•1/4 tbsp of Nutmeg powder
•Few drops of lemon juice
•4 tbsp of brown sugar

For The Mixture of Paneer

•1 cup of cottage cheese
•4 tbsp of milk
•Few strands of Kesar
•4 tbsp of sugar

Method:
Fruit Filling
Mix all the ingredients and keep them for 20 minutes. Squeeze the water and arrange the fruits in a pie dish.

Cottage Cheese Mixture
Mix saffron in milk and put it aside for a while. Make a smooth paste by blending all the ingredients. Spread the cheese over the fruit mix in the pie dish. Bake in a preheated oven at 220 degree C for 15 minutes.