Paneer Tikka is a very famous street food in North India. Basically this dish is cooked on a cylindrical clay oven. Since this big oven is not available at home, people usually eat them outside. But no worries guys, you can make it at home in your oven. If you don’t have an oven then you can make it on any non stick frying pan or an Indian flat tawa. Guys! I wanna share one of my beautiful memories with you. When we landed in Canada, by coincidence we met our new Canadian friends, Bill Massey & Dorothy Braun. They helped us a lot and we lived together at their farm house for a month. They have a beautiful family. On Thanksgiving Day, their son and daughter brought yummy dishes and I prepared Paneer Tikkas in the barbecue. That was winter and everyone liked my tikkas and enjoyed them with green mint sauce. It was our first time meeting their family and welcoming them with paneer tikka, was a wonderful idea. Everyone appreciated my recipe. We ate together and that was really a great thanksgiving day for all of us. So guys, today I am going to share my all-time hit tangy recipe, Paneer Tikka….let’s make it together….
Tangy Ingredients
- 150 g cottage cheese
- 1 onion
- 1/2 small green pepper
- 1/2 small red pepper
- 1/2 small yellow pepper
- 1 cup yogurt
- 1 tablespoon table salt
- 1/2 tablespoon Indian black salt / rock salt
- 1/2 tablespoon red chili powder
- 1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 tablespoon turmeric powder
- 1/2 tablespoon coriander powder
- 1/2 tablespoon roasted cumin powder
- 1/4 tablespoon dry mango powder
- 1/4 tablespoon fennel seeds powder
- 1/2 tablespoon dry fenugreek leaves
- 1-2 pinches of orange food colour (optional)
- 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
- 3-4 tablespoons mustard oil or vegetable oil
Mint Sauce
- 1 cup of mint leaves
- 3 tablespoons yogurt
- 1 chopped onion
- 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/2 tablespoon salt
- 1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
Cooking Steps
- First of all, soak the cottage cheese in water for 10 minutes.( If you use homemade cottage cheese then there’s no need to dip in water because it’s already soft).
- Now dice all the peppers and onion as well as cottage cheese as shown in the picture.
- Then put 1 cup of yogurt in a mixing bowl, add all the spices like salt, Indian black salt, red chili powder, turmeric powder, roasted cumin powder, dry mango powder, fennel powder, coriander powder, dry fenugreek leaves (crushed by hands), ground black pepper, 1-2 pinches of orange food color and ginger garlic paste, and mix it well with a whisk.
- Next add 3-4 tablespoons of hot mustard oil or any vegetable oil and mix it with a spoon. Here I prefer to use mustard oil to really enhance the taste.
- After that, add all the diced veggies along with the cottage cheese, stir together with a spatula.
- Now marinate them for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator. During this period, all the spices will mix with the veggies as well as the cheese.
- At this time you should prepare mint sauce.
- For this, blend 1 chopped onion,1 cup of mint leaves, 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic with ½ cup of water in a blender and make a puree.
- Then add ½ tablespoon of salt and ½ tablespoon of ground black pepper, mix it and strain it with a big strainer. Throw out all the residue.
- Now add 3 tablespoons of yogurt, mix it in, and your paneer tikka style mint sauce is ready.
- Now it’s time to make these tikkas. For this, take skewers, and start adding veggies as well as cottage cheese one by one as shown in the picture.
- Now place them on a baking tray and roast them on 390 degree Fahrenheit in a preheated oven for 5-6 minutes or until golden brown. After that, broil them for a minute to enhance the texture. During roasting you should turn the skewers and roast them on all sides.
- Wow your yummy tikkas are ready, sprinkle some chaat masala over them and serve them hot with mint sauce and sliced onions.
Tangy Suggestions
- You could make these tikkas in a flat frying pan or Tawa on medium heat until they turn golden brown in color.
- You can also barbecue them. You should serve them with some cold drinks and enjoy with your family.