Butter Paneer (or Chicken) Quesadillas

So I was on set late one night, and a friend was texting me, trying to tempt me out for food and drinks after I got off work.  First he mentioned Indian food, and then in a subsequent text mentioned a “boss taco truck,” and left me with cravings for both of those foods.  Which got me thinking, why can’t I have both Indian food and Mexican food in the same, easy to eat, drunk-food style meal?  Thus, the idea for an Indian-Mexican food truck was born.

Now I don’t own a food truck (yet), but I have a kitchen, so I got to work on a few recipe ideas.  This one stemmed from two dishes I love, Butter Chicken and Quesadillas (obviously), which seemed like natural companions.  The first time I made them vegetarian and used Paneer, which was delicious since the Paneer adds another cheesy note to the dish.  But chicken works amazingly as well. 

A quick note about the cashew paste, which is a staple for the butter sauce recipe:  To make it, simply soak cashews in hot water for 30 minutes, then blend until smooth.  Unfortunately, in the time since I developed this recipe and got around to making this blog post, one of my roommates moved out and took the blender, so I had to used store-bought cashew butter.  It’s essentially the same, but thicker and more oily, so I needed to add a bit more water to smooth the sauce out. 

Butter Paneer (or Chicken) Quesadillas

Makes 3 Quesedillas

2 tbsp Oil

2 tbsp Butter

1 in Ginger, minced

4 cloves Garlic, minced

4 oz Tomato Puree or Paste

½ tbsp Chili Powder

1 tbsp Curry Powder

1 tbsp Garam Masala

1/2 tbsp Coriander

1/2 tbsp Cumin

1/2 tbsp Turmeric

1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

2 tbsp Cashew Paste

1 Serrano Pepper, sliced thinly

½ cup Red Onion, diced

8 oz Paneer OR Chicken (boneless, skinless breasts), shredded or cut as thinly as possible

6 Tortillas

Shredded Cheese (optional) (Any cheese works well here, but I used Mexican Blend to keep with the theme)

Sour Cream

Cilantro

Butter Sauce:  Heat butter and 1 tbsp of the oil in a pan.  Add minced ginger and garlic, and fry for a few minutes.  Add tomato puree, cook and stir for five minutes.  Add spices and cook for 10 minutes.  Add cashew paste and sauté for 3 minutes.  To smooth out sauce, add a few tbsp of water. 

Paneer or Chicken:   Heat oil in a pan.  Fry Serrano pepper and diced onion for 1 minute.  Add paneer and fry for 2-3 minutes, until slightly softened.  For chicken, add the slices to the fried Serrano peppers and onion and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until browned on all sides and cooked through. 

Assembling the Quesadillas:  Lay out flour tortillas, these will be the bottoms.  Spread butter sauce, and then sprinkle fried paneer or chicken mixture on top.  Add shredded cheese if desired. Cover with top tortilla and fry in small amount of butter or oil until golden brown on both sides (about 1 minute per side). 

 

Serve with sour cream and cilantro, plus any additional butter sauce for dipping.

These will keep for about 3 days in the fridge, or seemingly indefinitely in the freezer.  Just reheat in the oven at 350 for about 5 minutes if refrigerated or 10 minutes if frozen.