Paneer Tikka

Tikka... Paneer Tikka...I remember a friend of mine telling me how to pronounce it. Don't go by the spelling on the menu written in English. Tikka sounds right when your tongue touches behind your front teeth while saying Ti...kka. Humm Tikka as in Paneer ka or Tikha as in hot or Tikka as in smearing on the forehead is still a tasty starter I assure you but you must do the right things right, pronounce it correctly!

Last when I visited Barbeque Nation with friends we were served some delicious Paneer Tikka. It was marinated in a green chutney mixed with curd and then grilled. I made this on a weekend when I was alone. It was too much of a pain to heat the oven so I made pan grilled ones, err actually they turned out pan fried ones.

Paneer is a high protien food my dietician Anjali Mukerjee had prescribed for me when I was on a weight loss program. My friend Kalpana, has the notion that paneer is fattening. So when I served her paneer tikka she was very careful and did not go beyond 3 pieces. I love paneer crumble, tikka or in a tomatoey gravy, actually whom am I kidding I like it in any thing :)

Here is how you do a pan grilled version of Paneer Ti..touch behind the teeth with your tongue...kka.

Ingredients

Paneer cubes 10 pieces about 2'' X 2"

1/2 cup cilantro
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
3/4 green chilies
1/4 cup curds
salt to taste
pinch of sugar
Olive oil

Grind together chilies, mint and cilantro to get a chutney along with salt and sugar.

Mix in the curd to get a nice marinade for the paneer.

Dip the paneer in the marinade to get a nice coating and leave all the pieces of paneer on a plate for all the flavors to seep in.

Grill in a non stick pan with little Olive oil. I accidentally poured more so my picture tells tales of the oily scene but you do not require much. The just grilled for a minute paneer is luscious but if you keep it for longer in the pan it becomes chewy.

A couple of the pieces followed by some citrus juice makes a wonderful weekend meal.