This mouth-watering Paneer dish is a quintessential North Indian cuisine. Paneer pieces, along with tomato, onion and bell peppers are roasted and then added to a saucy, slightly sweet, mildly tangy and scrumptious gravy/curry. Served as a main course, this dish is finger-licking tasty.
Let’s not waste your time and give you the recipe!
The following recipe will serve 4 people.
Ingredients:
For Paneer marination:
- 200 gms Diced Paneer
- 1 big diced tomato
- 2 tsp of Ginger and Garlic Paste
- 2 tsp of Lemon Juice
- 1 cup of diced assorted bell pepper
- 1 big diced Onion.
- 2 small cups of Yogurt or Hung Card
- 1 tsp of any oil of your choice (traditionally, mustard oil is used)
- 1 tsp of Red Chili Powder
- Salt to Taste
- 1 tsp of Coriander Powder
- 1/2 tbsp of Tandoori Powder (Optional)
For Gravvy/Curry Preparation
- 2 tbsp of oil or 1 tbsp of butter or clarified butter (ghee)
- 1/2 cup of Tomato puree
- 1/4 cup of Heavy Cream
- 1 finely chopped green chilli
- 1/2 tsp of Cumin Seeds
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 1/2 tsp of Kasuri Meethi (Dried Fenugreek leaves)
- 2-3 cloves
- 1/2 tsp of ginger and garlic paste
- 1/2 cup of onion paste
- 2 tbsp of cashew paste
- 1/2 tsp of Coriander Powder
- A big pinch of turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp of Kashmiri Red chilli Powder
- 1/2 tsp of Garam Masala Powder
To marinate the Paneer and assorted vegetables, you have to:
- Take hung card or yogurt in a big bowl. Whisk it well to make it smooth. Now add red chilli powder, coriander powder, ginger-garlic paste, lemon juice, oil and salt. Tandoori Powder is optional.
- Mix yogurt/hung card and spices well. Now add diced paneer, assorted bell peppers, tomato and onion. Mix everything gently, so the marinate covers all the ingredients.
- Cover the vessel and put it aside for next 1 hour. You can also marinate it overnight. Keep the marinated paneer and veggies in the refrigerator.
Tip: To make paneer tastier, prick it with toothpick before marinating. The spices will go inside and make the paneer tastier!
To roast marinate paneer and assorted veggies, There are two ways:
- On Stove:
- Take a shallow pan. Grease it with butter/oil. Now put marinate paneer and assorted veggies on the skewers.
- Put the skewered paneer and veggies on the pan. Roast it on medium flame. Keep greasing the pan with oil/butter and gently rotate the skewers at regular intervals.
- In Oven:
- Take a baking tray. Grease it with butter/oil. Now put marinate paneer and assorted veggies on the skewers.
- Put Skewered veggies and paneer on the tray in a preheated oven. Roast it 200 degree C for 15 minutes.
Paneer, and Assorted Veggies are now roasted! Remove it from skewers and keep it aside.
To prepare the gravvy/curry
- Take a cooking pan. Put oil/butter/clarified butter in the pan. Let the oil heat. Now, add Cumin seeds. When the cumin seed started crackling, slow down the flame and add cloves and bay leaf in the pan.
- Now add chopped green chilli and ginger-garlic paste. Saute it for a while on low flame. Now add onion paste. Turn it to medium flame and cook it till onion paste gets a golden hue.
- Add Kashmiri red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, Garam Masala Powder and Salt.
- Cook the mixture well on medium flame for few seconds. Now add tomato puree. Add 1/2 cup of water.
- Let the mixture cook for a while on slow flame. Keep adding water, if you maintain the consistency .
- Tomato puree is cooked when the oil starts leaving the sides of the pan. Turn the flame slow and add heavy cream and cashew paste.
- Heavy cream and cashew paste will thicken the consistency of the curry. If required, add little water. Cover the lid and let it simmer for 2 minutes.
- Now, take some Kasuri Meethi in your palm. Crush it gently. This will add extra flavor. Add the slightly crushed Kasuri Meethi in the curry. Let it simmer for a minute.
- Now, add roasted paneer and assorted veggies to the curry. Let it simmer for 2 minutes. Turn off the flame. Transfer it to serving bowl and garnish it with finely chopped coriander leaves.
- Serve it piping hot with a variety of Indian Breads like Chapati, Paratha, or Naan. You can also serve it with Steamed Jeera (Cumin-flavored)Rice.
Enjoy Paneer Tikka Masala!
