Paneer

Paneer is a creamy-firm cheese that stands in for meat in this vegetarian stir-fry featuring blistered green beans fragrant with curry powder and soy sauce.

This classic palak paneer recipe keeps things simple with minimal ingredients but fries the paneer for a crispy texture to pair with the creamy spinach purée.

We swapped hard-to-find parathas for flour tortillas in this riff on paneer kathi rolls. With a tangy yogurt sauce and filling veg, it’s the ideal to-go lunch.

Mild, squishy paneer soaks up all of a marinade’s bold flavors (garam masala, cumin, cayenne, and ajwain here), making it an ideal grillable vegetarian protein. 

Grilled cheese? Yes, please. But not that kind. We’re talking creamy-charred paneer with grilled green beans—a perfect vegetarian side for your next cookout.

This dish of saucy, seared paneer channels the flavors traditionally found in matar paneer—coriander, cumin, chile, and ginger—into a quick-cooking cherry tomato sauce that's packed with bright spring-y sugar snap peas. If you can’t find paneer, give this a try with another sturdy non-melty cheese like Halloumi or queso fresco. Or think of it as a simple sauce you can serve over any protein, like a crispy-skinned salmon fillet, seared shell-on shrimp, sliced feta, or even just a bed of salted yogurt. 

The method for marinating the feta is also a good trick for other fresh cheeses—try goat, mozzarella, or paneer.

Paneer, a fresh, mild Indian cheese, stands in for the meat in this delicious vegetarian main course. When you’re shopping for the peas, look for fresh shelling peas (sometimes called English peas) that have vibrant green pods full of small round peas. Larger peas are sometimes starchy instead of sweet and crisp.