When you sit down for a great meal, it’s important to set the tone right, and that means a delicious appetiser. The North Indian staple – Paneer Tikka – is a vegetarian option that’s a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. With pillowy-soft paneer cubes sandwiched in between capsicum and onions, it's fresh and rich at the same time and slathered in aromatic spices for a hearty and warming starter. It can even be served along with rice or naan for a wholesome main meal. The only drawback of this otherwise versatile dish is that traditionally, tikkas are made in an old-school clay oven called a Tandoor, and for most of us, that isn’t really an option in our modern kitchens.
But in this case, we can use technology to our advantage and whip up a batch of tikkas in around 10 minutes. The secret weapon: an air fryer. These machines have steadily been gaining popularity since 2018 and it's easy to see why. They take all the hassle out of achieving a crispy fried texture without the hassle and clean-up of deep frying. This is perfect for Indian food which often requires tawa frying or baking in a tandoor. This recipe takes all the guesswork out of the perfect Paneer Tikka, so you can enjoy it every day of the week.
Ingredients:
- 500 gms paneer
- 1 bell pepper
- 1 onion
- ¾ cup yoghurt
- 2 tbsp neutral cooking oil
- 1 lime
- 1 tbsp besan chickpea flour
- ½ inch ginger
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp kasuri methi (dry fenugreek leaves)
- 1 teaspoon salt adjust to taste
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon chaat masala
- ¾ teaspoon turmeric
Method:
- Whisk the yoghurt till smooth.
- Mince in ginger and garlic and combine.
- Sift in besan, turmeric, salt, chilli powder, garam masala, crushed Kasuri methi and chaat masala.
- Add lemon juice and mix all the ingredients to make the marinade.
- Chop the paneer, peppers and onions into 1-inch chunks making sure they’re all roughly the same size.
- Toss them all in the marinade, cover and let them sit for a minimum of 30 minutes and a maximum of 24 hours.
- Skewer the paneer, onion and peppers in an alternating pattern ensuing in a slight gap between each.
- Lightly brush the air fryer basket with oil and place the prepared skewers inside before brushing with a little more oil.
- Cook for 5 minutes at 180°C, flip the skewers and cook on the other side for a further 5 minutes.
- Serve hot.
