Paneer Tikka Rice! Yes this is as easy as it is tasty. I love creating easy recipes which are fun in creating and add more glamour to your food too. Apart from taking care that the food is wholesome, healthy not not too oily. Personally I feel food should be such that you can enjoy every bite and not feel overwhelmed with too many spices or oil. But then having said that I do make spicy food when I want to give some break to my regular ones.
Coming back to Paneer Tikka Rice, you would see that I made it almost like Biryani. Reason is that it allows the Paneer to not break and also still gives time to rice and Paneer both to absorb and exchange flavours. Adding greens coriander stalks and dried mint leaves worked best for me and it did enhance the flavour a lot. But you can totally skip it and use what you have.
I did layer this a bit like Biryani but if you want you can mix it and then add Paneer pieces and then let it all cook in the steam together without too much of mixing. The catch here is to make your Paneer Tikkas and then use those similar spices in the rice too. Letting it brew just binds the aroma together is what I feel. On that note, let get going to the recipe of Paneer Tikka Rice.
Paneer Tikka Rice
An interesting way to enjoy Paneer Tikka mixed with rice. Its almost like a one pot meal which can be relished with raita and salad.
Ingredients
- 250 gms Paneer (cut in cubes)
- 1 cup Yoghurt
- 1 tbsp Tandoori Masala
- 1 tsp Cumin Powder
- 1 Green Chilli chopped
- 2 tbsp Coriander leaves chopped
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper Powder
- 1 cup Rice
- 2 tsp Oil
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 2 Cardamom
- 4 Cloves
- 5 Peppercorns
- 1 Onions sliced
- 2 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste
- 1 tsp Garam Masala
- 1 tbp Salt
- 2 tbsp Coriander Stalks
- 10 Mint Leaves
- 1 tsp Ghee
- 1 tsp Lemon Juice
- 2 tbsp Coriander Leaves
Instructions
Mix yoghurt, cumin powder, salt, green chilli, tandoori masala, coriander leaves and add paneer cubes and let it marinade for 30 mins and then heat a pan and with 2 tsp on oil add the paneer cubes on the pan and let them grill from all sides and once done keep it aside. Save some yoghurt marinade for later.
Boil water in a deep pan and start cooking your rice while in a seperate wok heat 1 tbsp oil and add cumin seeds, pepper corns, cloves, cardamom and then add caramalised sliced onions. Now once the onions turn brown take out half of it for later use.
Add ginger garlic paste and cook till the raw smell goes away. Now at this point lower the flame and add the residual yoghurt marinade . This should be around 1/2 cup. Add a little more tandoori masala and some salt and then layer your cooked rice.
On top layer all the cooked paneer tikkas, drizzle mint leaves and then caramalised onions.
Top this up with some coriander leaves a bit of lemon juice and ghee and cover it with a tight lid. You can also use some dough to lock any aroma to come out, like you do in dum biryani.
Put off the flame after 2-3 mins and let it all brew together for around 30 min before you serve it. Mix it before serving as Paneer cubes are on the top layer to avoid them from breaking.
