Cheese /Paneer stuffed grilled tomatoes

Colourful and delicious, easy to make

Paneer stuffed, grilled tomatoes

Tomatoes, bright, red , firm yet juicy, pulpy. That is what most homes across the country invariably stock, along with potatoes and onions. The vegetable that is really a fruit, is very versatile generally, and  a must-ingredient in thousands of dishes.

As a child, I recall eating it quartered, with a sprinkling of salt and pepper, garnished with finely chopped green coriander, and chilled for a while.

Even now raw tomato is part of many salads. Lovely..

But  I find myself grilling tomatoes, in many ways.

Last weekend, I stuffed the tomatoes with cottage cheese—paneer—and grilled them. The result was a visual treat, as well as mouth watering ! Like many dishes in this blog, it is easy and quick to make, and one has only to walk up to the fridge for the ingredients required for it.

Simple ingredients

Ingredients:

Firm,red tomatoes-2 or 3, depending on how many people you want to serve

Cottage cheese-2 teaspoons per tomato

Finely chopped onion- One tablespoon full

Finely chopped, deseeded green chillies-one teaspoon level

Salt-to taste

If  you don’t have cottage cheese

Worry not.

Boil one cup of milk, add a ladel full of yoghurt, stir for a few minutes/till the milk splits, and the cottage cheese separates from the whey. Strain, and you have the cottage cheese you need for two tomatoes.

METHOD

Crumble the cottage cheese in one large bowl. Add the chopped onions,green chillies and salt. Keep aside

Wash and pat dry two tomatoes. Cut them into halves, and scoop out the juice/pulp, and use it for some other dish.

Fill the tomato halves with the cottage cheese mixture, and grill (I used my gas top tandoor, the traditional aluminum one available everywhere in India. But an electric grill will do just as well)  till the crust of the cheese turns slightly golden, and you have grill marks on the tomatos, which will have become somewhat soft by now.

Garnish with chopped coriander(optional), and serve.

(I did not have coriander, so I skipped it. But I had excess of cottage cheese mixture, so I stuffed two halves of boiled potatoes, and grilled them as well!)