Spicy Paneer Sandwich with Homemade Anaheim Pepper Peanut Spread

Many times a simple sandwich makes the perfect lunch. My sandwiches range from a simple cucumber, tomato, a jam sandwich, a burger patty sandwich, a mushroom tofu sandwich, a leftover filled sandwich and so on. But sometime, I like to fancy them up. 

We had the last lot of Anaheim peppers grown in our backyard. I kind of left them on the plant for a while not knowing how exactly to use them. One of my other favorite recipes with this type of chillies is the roasted tomato and peanut chilli salsa. That being the inspiration, I decided on a spread for a sandwich instead of salsa. 

Fresh peppers from the garden washed and ready to go.

Cut a couple of tomatoes and let them sit on cut side down on a foiled pan - these need to be oven baked or toaster baked until cooked.

Dry roast the chillies until they are a little charred.

Move the charred chillies into water and let sit for about 5 mins.

Meanwhile, slice paneer into big long slices. In a pan, add just 1/2 tsp or use an oil spray and add the paneer. Then add seasonings like turmeric, salt, red chilli powder, coriander powder. Toss and turn this until both sides are cooked. Just to clarify, what you see in the picture is the water leaving the paneer and not excess oil. I actually just sprayed oil on the paneer for cooking and did not add any to the pan.

The tomatoes are now cooked and shrunk. Cool them down just a few mins before making the spread.

Peel the skin off the chillies and discard all the seeds inside.

Add the peeled chilli and the tomatoes to a mixer.

Add about 1/2 cup of peanuts to the mixer and give it all a blend together. You can also add a couple of roasted garlic pieces if you'd like.

Make this a fine paste initially. And then add just a few more peanuts and pulse once or twice.

And voila, there you have a spicy flavorful and crunchy spread. Actually, I have to admit I was hoping it would be really spicy. This was kind of only around 4-5 spicy level on a 10 point scale. But the aroma of the chillies was at the top of the scale. Loved how the flavors came together. 

Spread some on the bread of your choice.

On both sides of the sandwich, add some lettuce, tomato and onion. . One one side, keep a slice of the flavored paneer. The shut the sandwich tight and lunch's done!

Cut it up the way you like. You could also make these for parties and then make smaller squares or triangles of the sandwich as finger foods.

Double up for the big eater in the house. No, no one eats this big in my house - this is just for the pictures. 

This spread is pretty versatile. I would even think this can be used like a thogayal version - just mix up with some warm rice and ghee and what is not good with that? Also, you could make this a little watery and use it as a dip. Come up with your own creative idea to use this. Let me know if you do make it and I would love to see how you used it.

Time for my lunch now. Adios.

Enjoy. Peace Out!