Paneer Pulao

I actually wanted to make Paneer Tikkas but I changed my mind. The dish may taste bland, so serve and eat with some favourite side dish.

Ingredients:
For Rice:
Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Cloves - 3
Cinnamon - 2
Bay leaves - 2
Olive oil - a few drops
Lemon juice - from half a lemon

Method:
Rinse the rice till the water runs clear. Soak the rice for 20 minutes. Pour the water in a deep pan and bring it to a boil. Add all the ingredients (discard the soaked water) and cook the rice. Strain the rice and keep aside. Remove the bay leaves.

Green peas:
Sprouted dry green peas - 1.5 cups

Method:
Boil the peas with little salt and keep aside.

Paneer Tikka

Ingredients:
Paneer cubes - 400 gm
Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tsp.
Salt (to taste)
Kashmiri red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp.
Kasoori methi - 1.5 tsp. (crushed)
Dry mint leaves - 1.5 tsp.  (powdered)
Hung solid curd - 4 tbsp.
Tandoori masala - 1 tsp.
Red food color - a few pinches (optional)
Olive oil
Lemon juice - a few drops
Capsicum - 2 (diced)
Onions - 2 (diced)

Method:
Mix all ingredients in a bowl except paneer, capsicum and onions. Take another bowl and add the capsicum and onion pieces. Take some masala and mix with onions and capsicums. Now coat the paneer with the remaining masala. Place the bowls (covered) in a refrigerator for 2 to 4 hours.
Grill the paneer, onions and capsicum. As there was a power cut, I had to shallow fry the paneer with little olive oil. Heat oil in a pan and add the marinated onions and capsicum. Fry them in high flame continuously. When they become dry and roasted add the boiled green peas. Fry for 2 minutes and remove from heat.

Presentation:
Mix green peas mixture with rice and paneer. Or place a ladleful of peas mixture in the centre of the plate. Spread the rice on top or around the peas. Sprinkle the paneer on top or whatever.
Serve with any raita or hot side dish.

Sent off to Priya's "Let's Sprout" event.

Posted in: lunch, Paneer, Rice