Tandoori Paneer Tikka
Tandoori Paneer Tikka is the famous grilled snack we all are familiar with. The marinated vegetables and paneer cubes are cooked on the barbeque to get the charred flavors to the snack. Paneer tikka is an all season snack and works as a ideal party snack.
Check for more snacks like Garlic Cheese Toast, Pan-Fried Kala Chana Kebabs and Bread Rolls.
Being a North Indian, Paneer Tikka is a dish that I have grown up on and relished at most restaurants. Barring few very select ones, most consider that adding loads of chili powder means paneer tikka. This assumption or interpretation of dish is grossly incorrect.

The tikka is an amalgamation of flavor charred veggies and paneer, hint of sour curd, chaat masala, spicy yet balanced taste with right duration of marinate. Serving with coriander-mint chutney brings the perfect balance to this traditional dish.

The longer you let it marinate, the better flavour it imparts. Also addition of chaat masala more than red chilli powder is important.
This recipe is adapted from Dassana’s recipe. I charred the veggies separately before baking them for few minutes to give it the most authentic flavour.

Tandoori Paneer Tikka

Ingredients
250 | grams of paneer (cottage cheese) |
2 | green peppers |
2 | large onions |
2 | large tomatoes |
200 | grams of hung curd or thick curd |
1 | tablespoon of ginger paste or crushed ginger |
1 | teaspoon of carom seeds (ajwain) |
1 | teaspoon of red chilli powder (you can use kashmiri lal mirch too) |
½ | teaspoon of turmeric powder |
1 | teaspoon of roasted cumin seeds powder |
1 | teaspoon of coriander powder |
½ | teaspoon of garam masala (all spice powder) |
1 | teaspoon of amchoor (dry mango powder) |
1 | teaspoon of chaat masala |
½ | teaspoon of crushed black pepper |
juice of half lemon | |
melted ghee or butter for brushing the veggies before roasting | |
salt to taste |
Preparation
1. | Chop paneer, peppers, onions and tomatoes into large cubes sized pieces. |
2. | In a large bowl whisk the curd till smooth. Add ginger, ajwain, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, cumin seed powder, coriander powder, amchoor, garam masala, chaat masala, black pepper and salt. Mix well. The marinade is ready. |
3. | Now add paneer and cubed veggie pieces to this curd mixture. Allow it to marinate for at least 2 hours. Ideally it should be marinated overnight in refrigerator. |
4. | When ready to roast, preheat oven to 180°C. Prepare the skewer sticks, alternating between paneer, onion, pepper and tomato pieces. You can add as many as or little pieces as you like. Now brush the prepared skewer lightly with butter or ghee. Bake for 20-25 minutes. You can turn around the skewers after 10-15 minutes for even roasting. Sprinkle lemon juice and chaat masala. Serve warm with mint coriander chutney. |
Notes
Recipe adapted from here.
I roasted paneer and veggies directly on flame using tongs before baking as I wanted that charred look and taste to the tikkas.
You can add melted butter or ghee to the marinade if you do not want to brush it later.