“What are you gonna do, angel face? Stab me with your eyebrow pencil?”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Kiss an Angel
That’s a dialogue from one of my favourite books and from one of my favourite authors of today. That’s enough ‘thats’ and ‘favourites’ for one day. No, I am not that kind of feminist.
I am the ‘do whatever you want to do’ kind. Hence, I am not offended by the quote. After all, we all use an eyebrow pencil and we’ll never admit it. The secret’s safe with me.
Zero waste and a little charred Paneer Tikka/Skewers with whey water Chappati and Coconut & Roasted Bengal Gram Chutney is my latest adventure in life. Paneer needs no introduction but if you insist then it is also called as Indian cottage cheese.
From afar, this may seem like just another Paneer tikka recipe but look closer. The word ‘zero waste’ is added for a reason.
Usually we discard the vegetable tidbits while cutting them into wedges or we would let tomato seeds overstay during marination but that’s not going to happen at Brains and Beans. We are certainly discarding the stems though, no doubt in that.
We are simply going to grind the tidbits and add them to the marination so the vegetables can soak in their own juices. Taste your own medicine! Now you know what little kids feels like *Revenge time*
This certainly creates a difference! For example, tomato is more tangy and juicy just like the way they turn out for tomato sauce.
Paneer cubes used are not exactly identical, you can use more inconsistent pieces for this recipe.
My oven is equipped with these cute aluminium skewers but personally I feel the sharp ends of bamboo skewers are far better because they go through the vegetables with much ease and it won’t end up you damaging the paneer. Oops, I did it again.
If you spotted a paneer cube missing in the baked pic then congrats! You must be good at ‘spot the difference!’
I chose hung curd for this recipe because curd+grounded vegetable tidbits results in thin marinade. To make hung curd, simply tie regular curd in a cheese or white lining cloth, squeeze the whey water, tie the ends and hang them dry for half an hour.
I let the paneer tikka char because I wasn’t satisfied with the way they were cooking. The char actually brought out excellent taste in tomato, onion and bell pepper. Charred tomato is my favourite. I don’t always add them to my roasted vegetables but I am seriously considering them to be one of the contestants. May the best veggie win!
I wanted to add the recipe for Coconut & Roasted Bengal Gram Chutney but since I am becoming an expert by making them everyday these days, I want to give them a separate post. I do have to come up with a story to fill the 300-words per post rule, though. Hehe.
’nuff said! Let’s dive into the recipe.
Zero waste and a little charred Paneer Tikka/Skewers
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Servings: 4 people
INGREDIENTS
Marianation
1/8 cup hung curd refer notes for direction
1/2 teaspoon Everyday Madras Curry powder get the recipe from sidebar
1/4 teaspoon tablesalt or according to your taste
Grounded mixed vegetables refer instruction
2 Tomatoes medium sized
2 Onions medium sized
1 Green bell pepper large
8 cubes of Paneer Indian cottage cheese
To serve with
4 Whey water Chappati
coconut & roasted bengal gram chutney
INSTRUCTIONS
TOMATOES: Discard stem. Cut into wedges, reserve the seeds/pulp.
zero waste and a little charred paneer tikka or skewers ingredients at brainsandbeans dot com
ONION: Remove root and stem. Cut the onion into wedges and reserve the few inner layers, like in the picture. You can see the hollowed out onion wedges.
BELL PEPPER: Discard stem. Cut quarter of an inch off top and bottom of the pepper. Discard the stem and reserve the remaining.
Remove the seeds and cut the pepper into either triangles or squares.
Add the reserved tomato-onion-bell pepper tidbits into a small blender and blend to a smooth paste.
In a medium sized bowl, add hung curd, everyday madras curry powder, turmeric powder, grounded vegetable tidbit paste and salt. Whisk well.
-
- Add the vegetable wedges and paneer to the mixture and gently coat. Let them marinade for an hour.
- After an hour,preheat the oven at 240 degree C for 10 minutes. Stack the skewer in the pattern of bell pepper-onion-tomato-paneer or in any order you want.
- Broil them for 10 minutes on each side or until your choice of texture is achieved. Total time is 40 minutes.
RECIPE NOTES
- To make hung curd: Simply tie regular curd in a cheese or white lining cloth, squeeze the whey water, tie the ends and hang them dry for half an hour.
- Get Everyday Madras Curry powder recipe here
- Broil: Setting the food closer to the heating rod or stacking it in the top shelf. 16 litres OTG without fan is used for this recipe.
- Make whey water Chappati: Simply replace water with whey water (from paneer-making process)
- Coconut & roasted bengal gram chutney: Grind together equal amounts of coconut bits and roasted bengal gram with small green chili and salt. Adjust water to your desired consistency. A separate post will be added for this.
- Careful with turning the skewers as they will be hot.
Paneer tikka or skewers can be served with whey water chappati(one of Indian flatbreads) and a chutney of your choice.
So let me know what do you think of this recipe ?
For more food updates, follow or friend me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
Rate, share and bookmark this recipe for future use. You can also send this to your whatsapp friends using the icon below. Check it out.
Cheers!
