Paneer Tandoori with Green Masala

I made tandoori paneer a few weeks back for dinner. Lately we have been eating lot of the regular panner dishes with the red- onion + tomato+adrak+lasun masala, so last week I made this green paneer tandoori for a change. The concept is not new to me as I occasionally bake fish or mushrooms coated with this paste.

In the past few weeks I am caught up with work, vacationing and engaged in doing shopping and packing for my upcoming India trip. I have been keeping a close track of posts by my blogger friends but I have not found much time on hand to write and post any of my drafts. In fact I was lucky to see my to do posts in my drafts folder in the nick of time and posted this recipe just few minutes before the event deadline :P. This recipe goes to the JFI:Paneer event. Enjoy the tandoori paneer with basmati rice.


Ingredients
500 gm paneer or Indian cottage cheese
vegetables (I used onions, tomatoes, capsicum)
handful of coriander leaves or as per taste
10-15 mint leaves or as per taste
250 gm curd or yogurt or 150 gm cakka or hung curd
2-3 green chilies or as per taste
1 teaspoon jal jeera powder or chaat masala powder (optional..if you are not using this add a pinch of black pepper to the marinate)
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
1/2 medium sized onion
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
3 tablespoon oil
salt for taste

Method
If yogurt or curd is used, hang it in a muslin cloth for about an hour to allow the water to drain and to obtain curd of thicker consistency. Chop the vegetables andpaneer into 2 inch pieces. Grind all the ingredients except the curd, vegetables and paneer into a smooth paste. Mix in the hung curd or cakka well with the ground paste. Apply to the vegetables and let it marinate for about 1 hour.



Line the vegetables on a greased pan or on skewers. Bake in a pre-heated oven for around 30-40 minutes at 450 degrees. I baked the paneer for around 20 minutes and the vegetables for longer time.