80TH – MEGA BLOGGING MARATHON
THEME: PROTEIN RICH DISHES
DAY:4
RECIPE: PANEER TIKKA AND NAAN BITES
Paneer Tikka and Naan Bites is a different way to serve up paneer tikka. Spicy grilled paneer cubes are served on a bed of spinach and naan. It is a fun way to serve this starter dish at parties or even for a BBQ get together.
Anywhere you go, for dinner parties, weddings, engagements or any social gathering, people tend to fill their stomach with starters. When we were planning for my son and daughter’s weddings, we spent so much time discussing the starters. Based on the starter, the rest of the menu was planned. For guests to appreciate the meal, the starters have to be the stars, then the rest just falls into place.
Whenever I’m entertaining at home, and if we’re more than 10, I prefer to make starters that are easy to put together. This way I have more time to prepare the main dishes and desserts. If there’s a pot luck or bring a dish along, I usually have to prepare the starters or desserts.
Planning A Dinner/ Lunch/Party
To have a tension free party preparation time, its best to plan. Always, I write down the menu and the ingredients I need so that way I’m not like a headless chicken hunting for ingredients at the last minute. This also gives you the opportunity to change a dish according to the availability of the ingredients.
BBQ in Montreal
Just a few more days were left in Montreal before hubby and I travelled back to Mombasa. My son planned to have a BBQ on Sunday over his small BBQ stove. So much preparation, cleaning the stove, buying the charcoal briquettes, planning what to barbecue. We still had some frozen paneer. Hubby went and bought chicken and tandoor paste. Marinated both overnight and next day we were ready to fire the BBQ stove.
The paneer tikka would have been too much for me so decided to make paneer tikka and naan bites so that while hubby and son were grilling the chicken they could enjoy some biting or starter with their chilled beers. The idea came from a grilled halloumi cheese and pita bread starter I had a few days ago at a Syrian restaurant.
So here’s my easy to make paneer tikka and naan starter. And oh please do ignore the toothpicks I’ve used… a bachelor’s home has limited things and cocktail sticks are definitely not on his shopping list!
Protein Source : paneer, yogurt
By no means am I claiming or supporting any sort of fad diet that are the latest craze in the fitness world. I’m just trying to include non meat non fish dishes from which you can get your protein source.
My Protein Rich Dishes so far:
1st Day – Mixed Dal Paddu
2nd Day – Fruit and Nut Yogurt Parfait
Ingredients Required For Paneer Tikka and Naan Bites
- Paneer – cut into bite size cubes
- Naan – ready made or home made
- Fresh Baby Spinach Leaves – washed and towel dried
- Tandoori Paste – homemade or store bought
- Plain Yogurt – must be thick. Can use Greek yogurt.
- Tomato Paste – should be thick and not runny
- Fresh Ginger Paste
- Fresh Garlic Paste
- Salt – add according to your taste
- Red Chilli Powder – use according to your taste
- Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder – this chilli powder is mild and adds a natural red colour to the dish. Feel free to use paprika or any mild chilli powder of your choice.
- Sugar – can use normal white sugar, brown or jaggery.
- Oil – any vegetable oil.
PANEER AND NAAN BITES
Ingredients
- 2-3 big naans cut into 36 squares I used ready made naan
- 400 g paneer or 36 bite size paneer cubes firm
- 4 tbsp tandoori paste I used ready made
- 4 tbsp plain thick yogurt
- 2 tbsp thick tomato paste
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1 tsp garlic paste
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp red chilli powder
- ½ tsp kashmiri red chilli powder or paprika
- ½ tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp oil
- 36 spinach leaves or any green salad leaves
Instructions
MARINATE THE PANEER
- Cut the paneer into approx 1″ cubes.
- Mix tandoori paste, yogurt, tomato paste, salt, sugar, ginger, garlic, chilli powders and oil in a bowl.
- Add the paneer cubes, mix gently till the paneer is coated with the tandoori mixture. Cover the bowl with cling film.
- Let the paneer marinate overnight in the fridge or for 4-6 hours.
METHOD 1:
- Fire up the grill or BBQ stove.
- Thread the marinated paneer through the skewers.
- Place it over the BBQ grill.
- Make sure you keep turning the skewers to prevent the paneer burning up.
- Brush the remaining marinade over it.
- As soon as you see that the edges of the paneer begin to turn brown, and the marinade on it appears dry, the paneer tikka is ready.
- Remove from the fire and using a fork, gently slip it off the skewers.
METHOD 2:
- Line a baking tray with aluminum foil.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Spread out the paneer cubes along with the marinade onto the prepared tray.
- Bake the paneer for 30 minutes. After 15 minutes of baking, turn the paneer pieces over.
TO ASSEMBLE THE PANEER AND NAAN BITES:
- Warm the naan under a broiler or on the BBQ grill for 3-4 minutes.
- Cut the naan into squares.
- Make sure the naan squares are about the same size as the paneer cubes.
- Put a folded spinach leaf on a naan square.
- Pick up the paneer square with a toothpick and stick it into the spinach and naan.
- Repeat the above step till all the paneer cubes, spinach and naan pieces have been assembled.
- Serve as a starter.
Notes
- Feel free to use homemade naan.
- If you don’t get Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder, use a chilli powder of your choice that adds the natural red colour without it being too hot. Usually tikkas served as street food contain red food colouring.
- To serve paneer tikka on its own, skewer them with large chunks of onion, sweet pepper and tomato. Brush with marinade and grill all together.
Pin For Later:
A little request:
If you do try this recipe then please either
- add a comment below,
- send a picture to my email mayuri.ajay.patel62@gmail.com
- tag me as #mayuri_jikoni on Instagram
- or tag me on Twitter as #Mayuri1962
Check out what other Mega Blogging Marathoners have made for Day 4:
