Lehsuni Paneer Tikka | Spicy Cottage Cheese Skewers

Recipe for easy peasy Lehsuni Paneer Tikka aka Spicy Cottage Cheese Skewers! Ready in 30 minutes and wins everyone’s heart.

Paneer tikka is child’s one of the favourite vegetarian dishes. As much as I want to disown him for uttering the word Paneer Tikka every time we go to an Indian restaurant or visit Delhi. I cannot ignore the fact that he really does like it.

We all, including me, judge paneer too harshly I feel. And I think somewhere the blame goes to the restaurant industry in India. When it comes to vegetarian food, they cannot seem to look beyond Paneer. It is like paneer has taken over the menus and vegetarian food. And that too paneer of the worst kind, the chewy rubbery tasteless version. Further increasing our bias towards panner in a not so positive manner.

I feel Paneer is an excellent every day vegetarian protein to have. Every 100 grams of protein has 23 grams of protein which is comparable to Chicken at 28gms. With this level of protein in it, it is criminal to ignore it.  Add it in salads, make paneer bhurji or a quick sabji, I find it a quick healthy addition to my weekday meals.

Where to buy Paneer in Bangalore

Atleast down south the kind of paneer one gets itself is dicey so one can’t do much but I have found a couple of things that overtime. One is to buy it from the right sources. Here are my top 5 places to pick fresh paneer in Bangalore from

1. Foodhall – without doubt the best paneer in town. Soft and creamy almost as good as the one you get in Delhi. From what I hear it is flown in from Delhi as well.
2. Total Mall – I hear these folks get their paneer from Delhi too and it is very close to the one we get at Foodhall
3. Mithai shops like Delhi Walle and Karthik’s – They sell fresh paneer just like it is sold in shops back home in Delhi.
4. Go Paneer – If I actually can’t buy the fresh ones, the package paneer of Go isn’t too bad. Yes it is not the best but not bad either.
5. Amul Malai Paneer – This is frozen Paneer. I believe the packaging happens somewhere in the north so the texture and richness is good. However it does come frozen and hence has a bit of preservatives.

Another thing that works for me is soaking paneer in a solution of 1:1 milk and water. Add some salt, warm up the solution and soak the paneer in it for 30 minutes or so. Even if the paneer is not sot initially, the soaking does wonders to it.

The story of this Paneer Tikka

So now that you have the paneer ready, let’s get to this Paneer Tikka recipe. This is a slightly modified version of paneer tikka. The one that you normall get and eat everywhere is typically marinated in curd and then grilled. My version does not have curd at all. I use spices, garlic and coriander mixed with a bit of mustard oil and lemon for marination. Then quick grill it in the oven or on the stovetop depending on my mood that day.

But every time I have made this version, it has been wiped cleaned. Even people who start by saying “oh I don’t like paneer” end up eating multiple helpings of the same. The first time I made this, it was my usual style of let’s add some of this, some of that and then I worked backward meticulously to test and freeze the recipe.

So here is the recipe, so quick and easy and yet finger licking delicious.

Don’t believe me? Try for yourself I say, and if you do share a picture with me. Tag #sinamon on twitter, instagram or Facebook.

Lehsuni Paneer Tikka | Spicy Cottage Cheese Skewers

Recipe for easy peasy Lehsuni Paneer Tikka aka Spicy Cottage Cheese Skewers! Ready in 30 minutes and wins everyone's heart.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 55 minutes mins

Course Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine Indian, north indian, punjabi

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 500 grams paneer
• 1 medium onion chopped in four
• 1 small capsicum chopped in large pieces
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 6-7 pods garlic pounded
• 2 tbsp coriander leaves
• 2 tbsp mustard oil
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp Jeera powder
• 1/2 tsp dry ginger powder
• Himalayan pink salt to taste

Instructions

 

• Marinate the paneer cubes, onions and capsicum in all the spices along with mustard oil. Set aside for 30 mins to an hour
• Skew them on bamboo skewers, adding onion and capsicum every couple of paneer pieces.
• In a heavy bottom fry pan, fry till it is brown on all sides. There is no need to add oil to the pan as our marinade has sufficient oil but if your tikka is sticking , add a bit of mustard oil.
• Serve warm with chutney and ketchup.

Notes

Equipment required

1. Frying pan
2. Bowl for marinating
3. Bamboo Skewers

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!