Tandoori Paneer Tikka

Delicious juicy pieces of Indian cottage cheese skewered and grilled with a spicy yogurt-based marinade. If you are vegetarian and you crave the grilled flavors of a tandoor, this recipe is made especially for you. The grilled goodness and spicy tangy flavor of this recipe are sure to bring you back for more.

What is Tandoori Paneer Tikka?

Tandoori style cooking, for those unfamiliar with Indian cuisine, is when marinated items or Indian flatbreads, in this case, paneer cubes, are strung on a skewer and cooked in a tandoor, which is a cylindrical clay oven. This method gives a slight charcoal flavor and is popular in Indian eateries. In this homemade variation, the paneer skewers are grilled in the oven, but they can also be baked. The yogurt-based marinade, which is unique to tandoori grilling, is used most of the time for tikka dishes.

Ingredients at a Glance

Paneer – 1 kilogram or 2lb cut in 2 cm cubes. You can get paneer cubes prepacked at the supermarket.

Bell peppers – Get both Red and Green Bell Peppers, 2 of each kind. Cut them up into square chunks that can be skewered easily.

Onions – 2 onions cut into quarters and separated into layers. You should end up with petals of onion.

Sunflower oil –  As required to prevent sticking

Ginger Garlic Paste – 2 tablespoons of Ginger Garlic paste is needed for this recipe. You can buy these packaged from the supermarket or just make your own fresh at home in a blender.

Lemon Juice – Lemon juice is an essential ingredient here so substituting it with lime juice concentrate is not advisable. You’ll need 3 tablespoons.

Coating Ingredients:

Yogurt – 500 gm or 1lb. You want the unsweetened variety. This would provide that tang without adding any sweetness.

Cornflour – ½ cup of cornflour for our thin but essential batter. This would crisp up in the oven to provide that delicious browned skin.

Spice mix – You’ll need to combine

Red Chili Powder – 2 tablespoons

Dried Fenugreek Leaves – 2 tablespoons

Turmeric powder – 2 teaspoons

Fennel seeds – 3 teaspoons

Cumin powder – 2 teaspoons

Coriander powder – 2 teaspoons

Black pepper – 1 teaspoon

How to prepare Tandoori Paneer Tikka?

Starting off we will cut the Paneer into cubes. If your paneer is pre-cubed you don’t need to adjust the sizes. Just go with what you got. As long as it’s close to 2cm it’ll cook evenly.

Cut the onions into Petals and the Red and Green bell peppers into squares.

Formulate the coating mixture by combining the coating ingredients mentioned above. The batter should be thin but not watery.

To coat the Paneer cubes, dunk them into the batter. Do not mix the Paneer in the batter as this might cause the cubes to break. After the Paneer has been coated, you can add the vegetables in as well.

Marinate the mixture for 30 minutes after which you can skewer them.

Put the skewered paneer and veggies with a thin layer of oil using an oil brush. Grill the skewers evenly for 10 minutes or until paneer and veggies are slightly charred.

Serve piping hot with coriander chutney.

Some expert tips for preparing Tandoori Paneer Tikka

• To introduce a stronger smoky flavor, you can heat up a charcoal briquette on your gas stove until red hot. You can put the piece of charcoal in a small glass bowl with a little bit of vegetable oil poured over it. You should see smoke emanating from this bowl. Put this bowl in the middle of the Paneer Tikka pan and cover with foil. The Smoky flavor gets transferred into the Paneer and vegetables.

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