Tandoori Paneer or Paneer Shaslik

This is one of the favourite grilled vegetarian dishes in India. The marinade is quite similar to that used in Tandoori Chicken Legs. Usually, you can buy the paneer (cottage cheese block) from an Asian sweet shop or make it at home too. Increase or decrease the quantity of paneer and other vegetables to suit your palette. Chaat masala sprinkled over the tandoori paneer before serving really enhances it's flavour.

Ingredients

1/2 kg paneer (cottage cheese) cut into 1 - 1 1/2 inch cubes
1-2 capsicums, cored, deseeded and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 onion
2-3 tomatoes, halved, deseeded and cut into 1 - 1 1/2 inch pieces
2-3 tbsp tandoori paste or tandoori powder
2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 c thick yoghurt
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
2 tsp each of coriander powder, garam masala, cumin powder
3/4 tsp crushed caraway seeds or oregano
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp + additional oil for grilling
3-4 lemons halved and chaat masala - for serving

Method

Peel and halve the onion. Cut it into 1 - 1 1/2 inch pieces, separating each layer of the onion. The paneer cubes, capsicum, tomato and onion pieces should br more or less of the same size.

Stir the remaining ingredients into the yoghurt. Taste the marinade and adjust seasoning. Add the yoghurt mixture to the paneer and vegetables, mix well and leave to marinate, covered in the fridge preferably for 12-24 hrs or at least for 8 hrs.

On a bamboo skewer, thread in the following order or in any other order you want - one piece of paneer, capsicum, paneer, onion, paneer, tomato and so on. Grill for about 15 minutes or until cooked, brushing with marinade several times and lastly with oil. During grilling, rotate the skewers occasionally.

Sprinkle chaat masala over the grilled paneer and vegetables.

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