Paneer Masala For Cheaters

Indian food is one of my very favorite types of cuisine, right up there after Mexican (can you tell I love spicy food?) but until recently I haven't done much cooking of Indian food at home. It always seemed too time consuming and difficult and who has enough forethought to marinate things overnight anyway? Well lately I have been taking on my fear of Indian cooking and trying some simple recipes at home (it's not as hard as I thought it would be). At Easter Eric and I had our first experience making Paneer, an Indian cottage cheese, and loved it! We also love masala sauce but I never remember to marinate my protein over night. I came up with this adapted version that doesn't require marinating and has a pretty authentic taste in my opinion. It may not be the most authentic in terms of process but it's delicious nonetheless! * Caution, this is very spicy!

Ingredients
2 Tbs Sunflower oil or ghee
2 cups cubed paneer cheese (see my tutorial here)
1 small onion, qaurtered
1 yellow bell pepper, cut in to 1 inch pieces
2 cloves garlic diced
1 Jalapeno pepper diced
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs Garhm Masala
2 Tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 Tbs cumin
2 Tsp black pepper
1 Tbs ginger
2 Tsp salt
2 Tsp paprika
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 cup whole milk

Saute the paneer in sunflower oil until browned on all sides, remove from pan and set aside. Add onion, peppers and garlic to the pan and saute until tender. Add tomato sauce and spices to the pan and stir until well combined. Add milk to the pan and heat through. Add cooked Paneer to the pan last and stir until coated. Serve with basmati rice.