The Working Lunch #48

Lime pickle paneer naan

Hello. Greetings! Happy new year.

Are you back to work properly yet?

If you are, don’t forget to schedule a lunch break and make yourself something tasty. Your afternoon at work will be all the better for it.

I said in the last edition that I might make a little change to TWL in 2023, so this is the change: it’s going to be one lunch idea every week rather than three or four. Basically, so I can sustain it going forward. Sure, I eat lunch and take a lunch break every single day, but what I eat isn’t always worthy of featuring. Concentrating on one featured lunch each week means I can (hopefully) deliver a better reader experience while still honouring my original intention for this newsletter — showing your lunch break some love.

Of course, I’m here for all lunch chats, so I’ll still be sharing what I ate on the other days. I don’t know if that’s interesting or not, but it keeps it on brand; I have so much love for the unsung lunch heroes such as tinned soup, reheated leftovers, and all the weird and wonderful fridge-raid concoctions.

Have a read of this week’s offering and let me know what you think. Hit reply, I’m all ears.

I’ve had a few new subscribers over the last month. If that’s you, welcome! Pull up a seat and grab a sandwich.

Just a sandwich…

Lime pickle paneer on toasted naan

with ribbon salad, pickled red cabbage, yoghurt and mango chutney

Bringing all the bright colours to a dull January day, this is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face and put a tingle on your tongue. And it won’t take long to put together.

Ingredients:

• Roughly 50g of paneer per person, chopped small.

• Naan

• Natural yoghurt

• Mango chutney

• Lime pickle

• Cucumber

• Oil

• Carrot

• Pickled red cabbage

• Paneer

• Fresh coriander

To make:

1. Toast the naan under the grill, or as per pack instructions.

2. While that’s toasting, pan fry the paneer in a little oil. I’ve used rapeseed oil.

3. Make a simple salad from sliced cucumber, carrot ribbons (using a peeler) and some pickled red cabbage. If you don’t have pickled red cabbage, try pickling the carrots instead.

4. Once the paneer is golden, turn off the heat, then stir in a dessert spoonful of lime pickle to coat the cheese. If it’s a very chunky lime pickle, you could chop it up a bit first.

5. To assemble the open sandwich, pile up the naan with the salad, paneer, yoghurt, mango chutney and top with fresh coriander.

Simple swaps

If you want to change it up or don’t have all the ingredients, here are a few suggestions:

• Tofu (extra firm) instead of paneer

• Mint instead of coriander

• Fresh chilli for more heat (the lime pickle I used already had a bit of kick)

• Pickled red onions or quick pickled carrots instead of red cabbage

• Homemade flatbreads if you have time

Leftover ingredients

Can you freeze paneer? Yes (instructions about freezing paneer). If you have any left! I’ve chopped the other half of my pack of paneer into cubes and put it in the freezer.

Lunch chat

I’ve only been back to work since Wednesday last week and homemade soup was on the menu for the other days — a use-up-the-veg-in-the-fridge soup served with cheese on toast. Lunchtime dog walks are also back in an attempt to get a daily quota of fresh air. What about you?

Did you get any foodie gadgets for Christmas? I got a Crimpit.

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If you’re not feeling the lunchtime love with this week’s idea, don’t forget that you can tuck into the archives at any time.

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