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Sunday, September 23, 2007

Chinese Five spice Paneer Tikka

Paneer Tikka!! When you hear this words, you start visualizing this succulent, slabs of paneer baked in tandoor oozing with butter and has this wonderful grilled aroma. For me, that's absolute heaven. But I thought of taking Paneer Tikka to a whole new level with this different spice to see how it fares and I leave it to you for the final verdict.

So here is my Chinese Five Spice Paneer Tikka


Chinese five-spice powder is a spice mixture commonly used in Chinese cooking. It is a combination of cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, star anise and szechuan peppercorns. There are variations to it too. Some people use nutmeg and dry ginger. And some people use black peppercorns since Szechuan peppercorns are not easily available.
I used fennel seeds, star anise, cinnamon, cloves and black peppercorns.


To make the five spice powder:

1 tbsp Fennel seeds
2 big sticks Cinnamon
6-8 whole cloves
15-20 Black peppercorns or 1/2 tsp Szechuan peppers
2 Star anise (whole)


Dry grind the above ingredients in a blender or coffee grinder and use as required.


Method
Since this is my own creation, I just eyeball the ingredients. I don't have precise measurements of the ingredients.
I took about a pound of home made paneer and cut it into bite size rectangular slabs.

Now for the marinade:

I used ginger-garlic paste, soy sauce, Tamari sauce, salt, vinegar, five spice powder, rice flour and cornstarch and 2 tbsp of yogurt and mixed everything together to marinate the paneer pieces. I marinated them overnight and next day I baked them in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. (200 degrees Celsius) for 15-20 minutes and after that broiled them for 5 minutes to give them a nice grilled look.
When baking in the oven line the baking sheet with foil and use the cooking spray or brush it with butter and then when you place the paneer pieces, spray once again with the cooking spray or brush them with melted butter. After they are done brush them once again with butter. This is optional, it just gives better flavor.

You can use the grill if you have one to make this paneer tikka . You can skewer the marinated paneer pieces with diced onions, green peppers and red peppers and grill it till its done. And sprinkle them with some lemon juice and five spice powder.

I sauteed the diced onion and peppers in little oil till they sweat a little bit and then skewered the paneer pieces along with onions and peppers in my plastic skewers to make it easy for my kids.
For more heat and spicyness you grind green chilies and add to the marinade and then once the tikkas are done sprinkle more of the five spice powder for intense heat and flavor.

The other nice thing about cooking with Five Spice Powder is not only the intense flavor that it adds to the food but also the beautiful perfume it imparts to the entire house.

13 comments:

amna said...

i was recently giften an OTG. Should try this one out..

musical said...

Fantastic tikka recipe, Pintoo! Good to see your post after many days! Missed your blog.....

FH said...

Pintoo, what a combo! Chinese Five spice with Indian Paneer! YUM!:))

Pooja V said...

This is so good and just yest i got a whole array of powders frm a chinese store so this will cooked v soon.

Foodie said...

Ladies thanks so much for all the wonderful compliments. Musical, I know dear, I miss blogging too. But my kids and family is my first priority so trying to post atleast one recipe a week.
Ashaji thanks for your comments. Thanks nags, and pooja for commenting.

Mansi said...

looks interesting! similar to the chilli paneer, but fennel and cinnamon are surely new:)

Chef Jeena said...

Wow I love these paneer tikkas. Great pictures I wish I could eat some right now. :D

Cynthia said...

Now that is creative cooking! Fantastic idea, Foodie.

Rachna said...

aww i love paneer tikka... love yur version.... yummm

Anonymous said...

i will always love these

Kajal said...

Rocking dish with nice presentation....I am not much lover of paneer but love your version.

Sukanya Yogesh said...

Hi, Got to see your blog thanks to the Foodie Blogroll. Wonderful dish, Iam sure Iam going to try it. Would you please help me by telling me how to add the badge of Vote for me "Bloggers Choice Awards", as in your blog. I tried my best but didnt manage to find it. Would greatly appreciate your help.If you get the time do visit my blog.
http://sukanya-keralaiyer.blogspot.com/
Best Regards,
Sukanya
E-mail : surftosurvive@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Mmm, I reckon i'll be having kebabs tonight then