PANEER TIKKA MASALA

This is a popular Punjabi dish, delicious and favourite of many. This recipe needs a quite long preparation time and cooking time. This is done by marinating Paneer cubes & veggies with spices and curd and cooked along with onion tomato paste and cashew & almond paste. Soya Paneer (Tofu) can also be replaced for ordinary Paneer. Here is the step by step preparation of the recipe

Preparation time : 25 minutes
Cooking time - 20 minutes
Serves - 4 persons

INGREDIENTS:
Paneer cubes - 1 cup
Capsicum - 1/2
Onion - 1
Curd - 1/4 cup
Besan flour - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1 and 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 3/4 tsp
Kasuri methi - 1/2 tsp 
Salt
Ghee - 2 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp

To Grind
Tomato - 2
Onion -1
Ginger - 1 inch stick
Garlic pods - 4
Cinnamon - 1
Cloves - 2
Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp
Poppy seeds/ Kasakasa - 1/4 tsp
Cashew - 5
Badam - 5

METHOD:
1. In a bowl add whipped curd, 1/4 tsp red chilly powder, 1/4 tsp garam masala, besan flour, little salt and mix well. Add Paneer cubes,  chopped capsicum cubes and onion cubes and marinate in the curd mixture for an hour.

2. In a pan, add water, allow to boil and switch off the flame. Add chopped onions and tomato and close the lid. This is called blanching. This saves the cooking time of onion while preparing gravy. Grind to a paste after it cools down and keep aside.

3. In a mixer, apart from onion and tomato, soak the other ingredients given to grind, for 15 minutes and grind to fine paste and keep aside.
4. In a dosa tawa, place the marinated pieces one by one and roast it on low flame adding little oil. See that all sides are cooked well and brown spots appear on paneer. Also see that, browning of Paneer will be fast, so remove immediately to avoid burnt taste and keep aside.

5. Likewise, shallow roast the onion cubes and capsicum cubes and keep aside.
6. In a thick bottomed tawa, add oil and ghee, add the onion tomato paste and cook until raw smell goes off and oil gets separated.
7. Add red chilly powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, salt, mix well, lower the flame. Add the cashew badam paste, little water, stir well and close the lid of the tawa, since the gravy will splutter.

8. Stir in continuous intervals, till the gravy becomes thick and nice aroma comes out. Taste for salt and spice, add if needed.
9. Add the roasted tikkas, and kasuri methi and mix well and switch off the flame.

10.Tasty and aromatic Paneer Tikka masala is ready to be served with Roti, Naan, Chappathi, Rice etc. 

Note:

• Do not over roast the Paneer, it will become hard and chewy.
• If preferred to avoid blanching, Onions can be chopped finely and tomato can be made paste along with the ingredients given for grinding.