Lahsuni Paneer Tikka

First, a little story about how I came up with this recipe.

Around a fortnight back, my friend had come over to my place, and together we made hot steaming chicken momos with some red garlic chutney. (I will surely upload the recipe for chicken momos in another week!) We finished the momos at one go, but a lot of chutney was still left. I refrigerated the chutney for good 3 to 4 days. A week went by, and while raiding the refrigerator, I came across the garlic chutney and a block of paneer, which was sitting in the fridge. Idea! And thus, my humble Lahsuni Paneer Tikka was born. Okay, I know you are waiting for the recipe eagerly, so lets just jump into the ingredients list.

For the Red Chutney:

Ingredients

• Red chillies – 3-4 (De-seeded)
• Garlic pods – 5-6
• Salt – One teaspoon
• Sugar – One teaspoon
• White Sesame Seeds – One teaspoon
• Oil – Half teaspoon
• Roasted Peanuts (without the skin) – 2 teaspoons
• Ginger – Half inch piece
• Tomato – 2 medium sized

Procedure: 

1. Soak the red chilies along with garlic pods in water for around 20 minutes. Do not drain the water.
2. Into the grinding jar, add the red chilies, garlic, tomato, salt, sugar, peanuts and ginger. Grind into a fine red paste. Add some water from the soaked red chilies and garlic.
3. Heat some oil in a tempering pan. Add sesame seeds after the oil gets hot, followed by the red paste. Keep stirring for 2-3 minutes and shut off the flame. Let it cool. 

For the Paneer Tikka:

Ingredients

• Paneer – 400 gms (cut into cubes)
• Red Chutney (Recipe as stated above)
• Salt – to taste
• Kasuri Methi – One tablespoon
• Charcoal – One piece
• Oil – 2 tablespoons
• Butter – As per taste

Procedure:

1. Take the cubed paneer pieces in a bowl. Add salt and kasuri methi. Give it a gentle mix. Then add the red chutney. 
2. Heat a piece of charcoal over the gas flame. Once it gets hot (in around 3-4 minutes, it should turn hot), use a pair of tongs and gently drop the hot charcoal into a small bowl. Put the bowl over your paneer pieces and drop some oil into it. This should release smoke. Immediately cover the bowl tightly with a lid. Let it stand for around 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, discard the charcoal piece. 
3. Heat oil along with butter in a non stick pan. Place the paneer pieces into the pan. Let it sizzle. Grill it on high flame for 5 mins. Then turn the paneer pieces. The sides should turn brown. Keep turning the paneer pieces gently and cook it on low flame. After 7-8 minutes, the paneer should be done.
4. Serve it hot with pudina chutney or onion rings.

This vegetarian starter is surely going to be a hit item among your non vegetarian friends as well. Do try it out and let me know in the comments section below. Till then, this is S.P. signing off from Cook Na Kaho.