What is Paneer Tikka Sashlik?
Paneer Tikka is a popular Indian appetizer made with chunks of paneer (Indian cottage cheese) marinated in a blend of yogurt, spices, and herbs. The marinade typically includes ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander, turmeric, garam masala, and lemon juice, giving the dish its rich, tangy flavor. The paneer pieces are then skewered with vegetables like onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes and grilled or roasted until charred and golden. Paneer Tikka is known for its smoky, spicy taste and tender texture, often served with mint chutney and lemon wedges. It’s a delicious, protein-rich vegetarian dish enjoyed worldwide.
What does Paneer Tikka Sashlik Taste Like?
Salty is one of the five main tastes. It has a satisfying and addictive quality with hints of sourness. Salty foods include cheeses, cured meats, chips, and olives. It is used in almost every dish and prepared food. Salt is added to enhance flavor and offer a distinctly salty taste.
Umami is one of five main tastes. It is savory with a depth of flavor. Umami is a taste in many foods, including meat, seafood, beans, and nuts. It is both naturally occurring and created through the specific use of ingredients to create a satisfying taste. Umami is characteristic of proteins and savory dishes.
Spicy is a flavor that brings heat and fire to food by creating a burning sensation in the mouth or sinuses. Spicy flavors come from hot peppers, horseradish, and wasabi. Spicy adds a kick and sometimes complexity to a dish and releases endorphins, creating a mildly addictive quality.
Ingredients
Paneer is a fresh curd cheese made by curdling milk with an acid such as lemon or vinegar. It is not aged and does not melt, making it an excellent cheese to grill, fry or cut into cubes and cook with sauces. The texture is firm and dry. Its color is white and the flavor is bland, mild and milky, making it excellent to marinate, spice and serve with savory flavors. It is mostly found in Indian cuisine, but can be found in other cuisines as well.
There are a number of varieties of green pepper, including bell, anaheim, jalapeno and more. Often green pepper refers to the bell pepper, a sweet and mild pepper with a large bell shaped body. They are large, with wide ridges and smooth, shiny skin. The flesh of the bell pepper is thin, crunchy and a bit juicy. The flavor is mild, sweet and vegetal. Green peppers, can be eaten raw or cooked, though if spicy, it is helpful to cook it to reduce the heat level.
The bell pepper is a vegetable by culinary measures, but botanically it is a fruit. Bell peppers grow in warm to hot climates and are somewhat bell shaped, hence the name. They are large, with wide ridges and smooth, shiny, thin skin. The flesh of the bell pepper is thin, crunchy and a bit juicy. They four main colors of bell peppers are red, green, orange and yellow, some are purple. The flavor is sweet, vegetal and mild. The inside has seeds that should be remove before consuming the flesh of the pepper. These peppers are used in dishes, both raw and cooked.
The onion is a bulb vegetable, meaning its bulb and not its leaves are eaten. Onions come in many varieties, including white, yellow and red. Shallots are small and mild onions. Vidalias are sweet, while red onions are strong and sharp. The onion is usually round and has a thin dry skin around its juicy layers. This skin depends in the color of the onion, as does the flesh. The flesh, or body of the onion is made of multiple round layers, that get smaller towards the center. The flavor of onions are sharp and sweet when raw, with an astringent taste. When cooked, these flavors mellow and the sweetness emerges. Onion are a very common flavoring and ingredient for many savory dishes.
Curd is fermented cows' milk that has thickened into a coagulated smooth substance, via heat. It is extremely similar to yogurt in texture, taste and color. It is creamy and tangy. Curd can be eaten plain and added as a condiment to many Indian dishes and is sometimes used as a main ingredient.
Vegetable oil is obtained by extracting oil from seeds. Types of vegetable oil include canola, sunflower, corn, and safflower. Light and with a neutral taste, vegetable oils are used to fry foods, or can be used to lightly coat meats and vegetables before roasting. Vegetable oils are also used as ingredients in salad dressings and sauces.
Corn flour is made from dried corn kernels. The kernels are ground into a fine flour that can be used in baking. The flour is soft and has a mildly sweet corn flavor when baked into a bread or any other item. Corn flour can also be used for encrusting fish and meat. The difference between white and yellow corn flour is the color of the kernel.
Lemon juice is made from the flesh of the pulpy yellow lemon fruit. The juice is squeezed from the flesh of the lemon and is a pale yellow color. The flavor is very sour and bright. Lemon juice is used in multiple cuisines around the world to brighten and enhance the flavors of the other ingredients. Lemon juice is used to make lemonade and goes well on fish. It has many uses.
Garam masala is a well known and popular Indian spice mix, used in a multitude of dishes throughout Indian cuisine and is sometimes found in fusion recipes as well. There are different variations of garam masala, however; some of the common spices include coriander, cumin, cinnamon, ginger and black pepper. Nutmeg, cloves, mace and other spices may be added. The general flavor of garam masala is sweet and a bit spicy with a very warm quality. This powder is brown and typically used in smaller amounts.
There are many varieties of chili peppers. They are a small, hot pepper. The pepper is dried and ground into a fine powder, that varies in shades of red. Chili powder is a spice blend popular in American and Latin-American cooking. It is usually made from ancho chilies, paprika, oregano and cumin, other spices may be added. It is used in many protein dishes and has a spicy and herbal flavor.
Cumin is a spice used in many cuisines around the world. The seed from which cumin is ground is a thin seed with a long body and tapered ends. Cumin is just a few millimeters in length and has a light brown or tan tone, which can look a bit grey. Ground cumin is light brown and has a flavor that is spicy, earthy and a little nutty. When pan heated, the flavor of cumin is both tempered and enhanced.
Ginger garlic paste is made by blending fresh garlic and fresh ginger together to form a fine paste. It may be blended with water and salt for texture and to bring forward the flavors. The paste is yellow and tastes strongly of both garlic and ginger. It is spicy, sharp and commonly used in Indian cuisines as an additional flavor to many different dishes.
Turmeric comes from a flowering plant. The root of the plant is used to make turmeric powder. This root is golden and has a texture similar to ginger, but less fibrous and juicier. The root is dried and ground into a fine golden colored powder that is used for flavor, color and even medicinal use in foods. The flavor is bitter, earthy and peppery. Turmeric is one of the most common spices in curries.
