Mother’s Day is celebrated all over the world on the second Sunday of the month of May. Mother’s Day is about celebrating your mother, your grandmother and all the motherly figures in your life. It is the day to celebrate motherhood and what can be best by giving her a break from the kitchen. This Mother’s Day it’s time to cherish and celebrate the bond with an extraordinary dish.
We bring you our special Tandoori Paneer Tikka starter dish. This is a perfect starter or finger food that can be made quick and enjoyed by everyone. Tandoori Paneer Tikka has a deity-like status in every Indian home. This heavenly dish is traditionally prepared in tandoor but we have the perfect recipe for the oven. Your mother deserves the best and our recipe will make sure your mom enjoys the dish thoroughly.
The dish has to be light and the paneer has to be juicy, the veggies need to be crunchy. Each piece of tikka has to be flavoured just right and marinated well along with a tint of char that gives it the smokey flavour.
If you are new to Indian cuisine, let us inform you this is one of the favourite Indian appetizers. Cottage cheese is marinated along with veggies on a skewer and is the perfect vegetarian alternative to tandoori chicken tikka, tandoori fish or prawn tikka.
If you have just stepped in the kitchen and worried about ruining mother’s day, don’t worry. Our step-by-step recipe will assist you in getting the perfect dish of your dreams.
There are four steps to be remembered while cooking Tandoori Paneer Tikka.
- The first step is marination. In this step, you need to marinate the cottage cheese.
- The next step is skewering the cottage cheese and the veggies.
- The third step is placing it correctly. This is one of the most important steps. You need to place a cooling rack on
- the baking sheet so that it is slightly raised. and then place the paneer tikka skewers on the cooling rack.
- The final step is baking or roasting the tandoori paneer tikka in your oven.
Tandoori Paneer Tikka Recipe
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Meal For – 4 people
Ingredients
Marination Ingredients:
- Mustard Oil – 3 Tablespoons
- Garlic Paste – 1 Teaspoon
- Ginger Paste – 1 Teaspoon
- Thick Curd or Greek Yogurt – 1/2 Cup
- Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder or Paprika – 2 Teaspoons
- Coriander Powder – 1 Tablespoon
- Chaat Masala Powder – 1 Teaspoon
- Garam Masala Powder – 1/2 Teaspoon
- Crushed Kasuri Methi – 1 Teaspoon
- Salt to taste
Paneer Tikka Ingredients
- Cottage Cheese or Paneer – 2 Cups, Cut into 1-inch cubes
- Onion – 1 Medium Sized, Cut into 1-inch cubes
- Capsicum – 1 Deseeded Medium Sized, Cut into I inch cubes
- Tomatoes – 1 Deseeded, Cut into cubes
- Chopped Coriander/Cilantro & Lime Juice for Topping
Method
- Mix all the marination ingredients in a bowl and toss the paneer in it. Make sure the paneer cubes are coated well. Cover and set aside for at least half-hour. You can let this mixture stay up to two hours
- Preheat the oven to 220 C/430 F for 10 minutes just before you are ready to cook. You also need to place a cooling rack over the roasting pan and set aside.
- Skewer one cube of paneer alternating with onions, capsicum and tomato. You would need approximately 3-4 skewers
- Place the skewers on the cooling rack and bake for approximately 15 minutes, turning once halfway. Once the 15 minutes are completed you need to switch on only the broiler. This is the upper element of the oven and broil for 2-3 minutes till the paneer has a slight char on the surface.
- Remove the roasting pan with the skewers out of the oven carefully and place the skewers on your serving platter.
- Top the Tandoori Paneer tikka with chopped coriander or cilantro and squeeze lime juice on them.
- Serve immediately with sliced onions and mint-coriander chutney.
*Note
- You can get Chaat Masala Powder at any Indian or Asian store.
- The fiery red marinade of the paneer is usually achieved by added colours but we are against chemicals and the best way to get the colour is using Kashmiri red chilli powder. It has the needed colour without the heat.
- The paneer tends to be very soft after cooking so it is recommended to be very careful while placing the skewer from the roasting pan to the roasting plate. Make sure to use firm Paneer that is not crumbly
- If the curd you are using is not thick enough, hang it in a muslin cloth for at least half an hour and remove when you need to use it.
Mother’s Day is right around the corner and this super easy recipe is worth every praise you would receive when you cook it for all the motherly figures at your home. Try it out and tell us how you feel!