Warm and sheltered from the rainy British weather in a beautiful Malaysian restaurant, we joined our Bengali friend and her mates for a big 3-0 birthday dinner last night.
Just as I was getting in touch with my inner Zen zone after the glorious starter, the waiter handed me the beautifully-presented menu, asking: “Would you like some inter-course?”
I hastily turned down the strange request only to realise he was refering to the option of a mini nibble between the starter and main course.
As I tucked into my spicy marinated quail and coconut rice, I thought fondly about the sunny weekend in Cambridge and the other Indian BBQ dish I made.
It was a tandoori paneer shashlik - chunks of Indian cheese marinated in a tandoori masala and threaded onto skewers with peppers and onions. Paneer can at best be described as solid buffalo mozzarella when hot and polystyrene when cold (Not that I eat polystyrene regularly or anything). It is widely available from Indian shops and I have even bought it at the local supermarket recently.
The paneer gets marinated here in tandoori masala. This is just about the only pre-mixed spice powder I use, because a) it’s a drag to make it from scratch and b) it won’t stink your house up because you tend to cook it outside.
A popular vegetarian tandoori dish at home, this was real hit with the British and Peruvian members of our family. Try this dish with some naan for a really lovely summer lunch.
This recipe serves 10 if alongside other BBQ dishes, 5 on its own:
3 x 250 gm paneer
4 heaped tbsp tandoori masala powder
6 cloves garlic
3 inches ginger
300 gm low fat natural yogurt
Juice of 1 lemon
6 peppers
2 onions
3 tbsp sunflower or corn oil
Salt to taste
Chop the paneer into bite-sized cubes, about one square inch each and puree the ginger and garlic.
In a medium-sized bowl, mix the cubes of paneer with the yogurt, tandoori masala, ginger, garlic, lemon juice and some salt. You want a bright red, strong marinade.
Now chop the peppers and onions into large, even chunks - halve and then quarter. In another bowl, mix them with the oil and some salt.
Finally thread the ingredients into bamboo skewers - pepper, onion, tandoori paneer, pepper, onion and another cube of paneer. Repeat this with 10 skewers.
When the BBQ is ready, cook the skewers until the peppers and onions get charred on the outside and the paneer softens to a mozzarella -like texture. Eat it straightaway before the paneer goes cold.
P.S. = Happy Independence Day. I tried and failed to write something less frivolous on this historic day, but others have had more success than me…
18 Comments
*”Would you like some inter-course?”* LOLLL!!!!! Oh dear!! What a dilemma for you Mallika!:))
Happy I day to you. Shashliks look great. Enjoy.
LOL! that cheeky waiter!or was the mind working overtime
Paneer looks YUM!
Happy Independence Day!
That was interesting. A good recipe.
Happy I-day to you!
Lovely colors.. Is their an inter-course b/w starters and main course? When this gonna stop, God knows!
so what would’ve happened if you said ‘yes’ to the inter-course? curious mind wants to know.
That was priceless! English is so marvellously (?) adapted, isn’t it?
Hillarious! Love it.
The paneer looks amazing.
Funny story! This looks really yummy!
Hi Mallika, LOL! the picture is making me J!
hahahaha…… I am trying to imagine the expressions on all your faces!! LOL!!
That pic looks absolutely inviting Mallika.
Errrr so what did you have …
?
The tandoori paneer looks heavenly
That burst of colour is an utter show stopper!!! And that was FUNNY
May be its their policy to make the customers laugh out loud to increase their appetite….both your tikkas look absolutely pro!
haha…”inter-course”! Now that’s a course that would peek anyone’s interest! lol! Tikkas looks to-die-for!
Boy oh BOY, that looks good. I shall be saving that up for summer when it’s BBQ season again. Thanks Mallika
Hi Mallika, love your site. I have Indian friends who have two grown boys that I like to cook for and have tried to cook Indian food for them but they usually end up laughing at me. My favorite dish is Butter Chicken which I have a recipe that I have totally bastardized and I call it White Irish Girls Butter Chicken. It works for my family but I would love to have an authentic recipe I could make for my “boys”, I always bring them my leftovers and would like to surprise them with something from their homeland (even though they were born here, their parents are from Northern India, not sure which part)
Could you post one?
Wow, this just took me down memory lane to our bbq paneer tikka during our camping trips. Did u know the story behind the July 4th barbecues thought? pretty interesting- read it at http://funnfud.blogspot.com/2007/07/barbecues-how-they-originated-and-why.html
wow, what an inter course, oops !!
Ha ha
Very good pic and interesting recipe Mallika.
Very funny story!!
Have to try and see if my Indian grocery store here stock the tandoori masala pwd….