Paneer tikka on stove top

Paneer tikka on stove top

                          Making paneer tikka on stove top (on gas ) without an oven is one of the easiest tasks and they taste as good as the ones made in oven. Especially when you have to make for a crowd, this seems to be the easiest one with no waiting time for the oven to finish the batches. I do not thread them on to the skewers first, but instead I roast them first and put them on to the tooth picks or skewers. This way they are cooked well. I can have a better control over the quantity of paneer my kids eat when I put them on to the toothpicks, if you wish you can use skewers. This paneer tikka can be served as an appetizer or can even be used to make paneer tikka masala. 
 
Note: if you wish to use food color, you can. i do not use. adding little oil to the marination could help to get a good color from turmeric and red chili powder. mine did not get a good color, as i used very little chili powder since i made these for kids

Ingredients

¼ cup of hung curd

¾  tsp. Kashmiri red chili powder (I used byadgi, you can use any deep color chili powder)

1/8 tsp. pepper powder

1 tsp. ginger garlic paste

1/8 tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. kasuri methi (crushed)

1 tbsps. of lemon juice (adjust as per your curd, if your curd is sour, you can skip this)

¼ tsp biryani masala powder or ½ tsp garam masala

¼ tsp coriander powder

salt to taste

1 tbsp. oil

Veggies (at room temp, using from the fridge right away makes them soggy) (I do not marinate for long as tend to lose the crunch, so I marinate just before I fry them)

½ green bell pepper

½ red bell pepper

1 big onion cubed

How to make hung curd
 1. tie curd in a muslin cloth and hang it till all the water drips off, usually for a night inside the refrigerator. use this for marination

Method

1.   Wash and pat dry the paneer cubes on a cloth

2.   Mix all the marination ingredients and marinate the paneer for atleast 2 hours 

  
3.   Heat a wide pan with 1 tbsp oil, remove excess marinade from the paneer pieces and fry on high till they turn crusty on atleast 2 sides. set aside

4.   while frying the paneer, marinate the left over marinade to the veggies 

5.   once paneer is done, fry veggies till done but yet crunchy

6.   use toothpicks and put them on alternating veggie and paneer

7.   roast again for few mins on high. this is optional

serve as it is or with mint chutney