Paneer tikka step-by-step recipe with photos.
About this recipe
Paneer tikka is without a doubt the most popular vegetarian tandoori dish. Paneer is Indian cottage cheese. Traditionally, this dish was made in a tandoor or clay oven but you can also make this in a regular oven.
To make the marinade for the paneer tikka, I start with sautéing onion, ginger, garlic in some oil. I then mix together roasted gram flour. Once the mixture cools down, I mix in hung yogurt and spices.
This marinade is a bit different than the usual marinade for tikka which is prepared using raw onion, ginger, and garlic paste. This leaves a strong taste of onion and garlic in the paneer tikka - especially because the paneer cooks so fast, the marinade doesn't get time to cook. This doesn't go well with the mild flavours of paneer and bell pepper. So, in my version, I cook the onion, ginger, and garlic before adding to the marinade - with a little extra effort the taste of the dish increases manyfold! However, you can stick to the raw onion, ginger, garlic paste in marinades for meat - as meat takes longer to cook, the marinade will be cooked along with the meat.
If you don't have access to an oven, you can prepare the paneer tikka in a skillet or tawa also - though the result won't be as good. To make them on a skillet, lightly brush all sides of the skewered paneer and vegetables with some oil. Heat the skillet on medium heat and place the skewers on the skillet. Cover and cook for a minute. Turn the skewer and cook on each side until they are lightly charred.
The paneer tikkas are perfect for summer barbeques and a great alternative to meat kebabs! Cubes of paneer and vegetables, crunchy & crumbly on the outside, soft & juicy inside.
For a vegan option, you may replace the paneer with tofu.
For a surprising twist, try using halloumi instead of paneer 🙂
Click here for more paneer recipes.
Step by step instructions
1. Saute onion, ginger, garlic, and mix besan
2. Cool the masala and mix the rest of the marinade ingredients
3. Marinate paneer & vegetables and skewer them
Recipe card
Paneer tikka
Ingredients
- 250 grams paneer cut into cubes
- ¼ cup yogurt
- 1 cup capsicum cut into cubes (I used red, yellow and green)
- 1 medium red onion cut into cubes
For the marinade:
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- ½ inch ginger grated or ½ teaspoon ginger paste
- 1-2 cloves garlic grated or ½ teaspoon garlic paste
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- 1 tablespoon besan
- A handful coriander leaves finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi)
Instructions
To make the marinade:
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a frying pan or kadhai and add cumin seeds. Once it splutters, add the chopped onions and sauté till light brown colour
- Add ginger, garlic, red chilli powder and sauté for a minute or two. Add besan and mix well. Cool completely
- Once the onion is cooled, mix together the rest of the ingredients for the marinade
To make the tikka:
- Add the paneer cubes to the marinade. Then add the cubes of onion, capsicum and mix well.
- Skewer the paneer and the assorted cubed vegetables
- Preheat oven to 200 C (390 F)
- Place the skewers on a wire rack – for best results suspend them on a skewer rack. (Suspending the skewer is important as it ensures the tikkas are uniformly cooked on all sides, and the dripping juices do not touch the base of the tikkas. Also, it keeps the paneer from touching hot surfaces, which it tends to stick to.)
- Cook for 15-20 minutes till lightly charred
- Serve hot with mint chutney
Notes
- For a vegan option, you may replace the paneer with tofu
- For a surprising twist, try using halloumi instead of paneer 🙂
paramasvari
How to make panner
Shilpa
Hi there,
Hope you liked my post on paneer tikka.
Please see instructions on making paneer below. I will post a step by step method soon.
Boil 1 liter milk on high heat and add juice of half lemon. Turn off heat as soon as milk curdles and the whey separates from it. Drain using a muslin cloth/cheese cloth and squeeze out the excess liquid. Place the muslin with the paneer under a heavy weight for a about 15 minutes. This will flatten the paneer and remove the remaining liquid. Cut the paneer into cubes.
- Shilpa