Paneer Kathi Rolls - Chinese Style (2024)

These Chinese style paneer kathi rolls are incredibly easy to make! Here’s how to jazz up your working lunch, with tips on how to make the perfect paneer filling and how to assemble the roll!

At My Food Story, our days are packed more often than not. Whether it’s our Schezwan Fried Rice made with leftover rice or a quick Dal Fry to go with Rotis, we’re always looking for exciting but easy working lunches. Here’s a great option that we all love so much - Paneer Kathi Rolls!

These paneer kathi rolls or paneer frankies will not eat into your work hours, so go ahead and schedule that midday meeting. You can prepare the components in the morning and just put it all together when you’re ready to eat. Also they’re sooo simple to make! The filling gets done quickly and assembling the roll takes less than 5 minutes.

The Chinese Chilli Paneer Filling

The paneer filling for this kathi roll is super simple. I’m talking ready-in-15 minutes kinda thing. Need any more convincing? This filling has all the classic Indo Chinese ingredients - minced ginger and garlic, green chillies, onions and capsicum, soy sauce and vinegar, and of course - paneer. We’ve used a wok to quickly stir-fry the ingredients together. The veggies are crunchy, the filling is tangy and spicy, and the paneer is soft and takes up all those flavours. Make this stir-fry in a wok for the best flavours.

Try making soft, tender paneer at home with my recipe - Homemade Paneer

The Flaky Parathas

Since it’s a working lunch, I usually like to buy frozen malabar parathas, heat them on the pan with butter and use them for these rolls. You can also make simple rotis for the roll which is a much healthier option. The softer the rotis, the better. But I’d always choose malabar parathas over anything else. Those crispy layers work so well with the paneer filling and give these rolls that authentic Calcutta style kathi roll feeling!

Crispy Noodles Topping

In the true spirit of Indo Chinese grub, we’ve added crispy noodles inside the roll for that crunch factor. We used cooked noodles and just shallow-fried them in oil. The noodles should take on a nice golden brown colour - be careful not to burn them! The noodles will nicely crisp up and add texture to the rolls. You can watch the video to see how it’s done.

I also have a tutorial to make your own crispy fried noodles at home if you are making a big batch

Assembling the Kathi Roll

Once you have all the elements ready, you can assemble the roll in 5 easy steps:

1. Place a cooked roti/malabar paratha on your workstation
2. Put 2 spoons of pickled onions and spread them out evenly
3. Next, put 2 servings of the paneer filling
4. Sprinkle crispy noodles on top of the filling
5. Start from one side and tuck the filling inside the roti as you roll towards the other end. Cut it into 2 or 3 parts - easy to eat!

You can also drizzle some spicy ketchup or hot and sweet sauce on top of the filling for an extra hit of heat. And that’s it! No more hunger pangs on work days!

Serve the roll with tomato ketchup or chilli sauce, and a glass of juice to wash it all down! This is one of the easiest working lunches to prepare on a busy day, and if you have some paneer remaining, you can munch on it later as a snack! Have more ideas for working lunch? Let me know in the comments below!

More Paneer Dishes:

• Aloo Paneer Tikkis
• Tandoori Paneer Tikka
• Paneer Pakoras
• Creamy Matar Paneer
• Palak Paneer

How to make Paneer Kathi Roll Recipe Video