Paneer Tikka

After a series of posts of traditional mithais and some south indian sweets, here is a recipe for Paneer Tikka - the way you have liked it in the restaurants, the same flavour and some important hints. The taste of grilled onion, paneer and capsicum with the marinade is too good to resist.

Preparation Time : 30 minutes
Cooking Time : 20 minutes
Servings : 2

Ingredients

Paneer  - a big block of paneer is preferred, (my advice : Don't buy the readymade cubes, the size of the cubes matter)
Capsicum - 1 medium cut into big cubes
Onion - 1 medium cut into big cubes
Optional - Tomato, Red bell peppers / other coloured peppers


For the marinade

Gram Flour / Besan - 2tbsp
Ajwain / Omam -  a generous pinch
Butter - 1 tbsp

Thick Curd / Hung curd - 1/2 cup
Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 tsp
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp / according to taste
Salt - to taste
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Lemon juice - 2 tsp
Mustard Oil - 2 tbsp
Turmeric Powder - 2 tsp

Materials Needed

A bowl for mixing the marinade
Bamboo skewers - 4 long ones soaked in water for an hour at least. This would prevent the bamboo skewers from getting burnt.
Aluminium Foil - to line the baking tray

 

Procedure

1. To prepare the marinade, first take a pan with 1 tbsp butter, roast the gram flour and ajwain till you get a strong nutty flavour.(This is one very important step to get restaurant style tikka).

2. After it cools down, add water and make a paste such that it coats the spoon and drops thick from the spoon. I would add an image sometime soon.

3. Take a tsp of this paste, add the remaining ingredients except the oil and turmeric and whisk well to incorporate the flavours well.

4. Finally heat the mustard oil till it smokes, switch off the stove ,add the turmeric powder and immediately pour into the prepared marinade and mix well. (Mustard oil is the other important ingredient that gives the tikka its restaurant flavour. If you do not have mustard oil, you could make mustard paste, add it to the hot oil and then to the marinade.)

5. After mixing the marinade well, add the vegetables and the paneer and coat them well. At this stage, if you feel the marinade is a little runny, you would have to refrigerate the marinade. Alternately, make sure your curd does not have water at all. It should be absolutely thick.

6. Preheat your oven to 230 degree C. Arrange the paneer, Capsicum, onions in the skewers in alternate layers and finish with the paneer.

7. Put it for grilling in the oven. keep a close watch to make sure the paneer doesn't become too black, it should just brown. Turn the skewer around midway, brush with a little oil to make sure it cooks evenly. The whole process would take about 10 minutes.

8. You could also cook this in your sandwich toaster if there is a grill plate in it.

9. However,I believe it cooks and tastes best when cooked in a gas tandoor. I don't have one though :-(

10. Serve hot with Mint chutney