Tikka >> Tik Tok
Alternatively: preserving my last bastion of maturity with a food coma-inducing appetizer
If there’s one thing that my friends know I refuse to do in quarantine, it’s downloading Tik Tok. Yes, I know it’s #1 in Entertainment on the app store, and I know it’s wildly popular among people my age, younger than me, and even some people older than me. I have nothing in particular against the app, but I think many people my age see it as the first concrete divide between the Millennial/GenZ’s and the solidly Gen Z’s (if that makes any sense). It’s just perplexing! Even right now, if you were to ask college underclassmen vs. upperclassmen what they think first when hearing “Tik Tok”, the former group would refer to the app, while the latter group would likely mention the Ke$ha song (an iconic middle school jam, mind you). Anyways, I don’t mean to rat on the app, I just can’t bring myself to download it 😭
Anyways, what does that have to do with anything??? Why am I bashing on Tik Tok in a food blog? Honestly, it was a bit of an afterthought after making a popular Indian restaurant appetizer: paneer tikka! I made this dish a couple of weeks ago, but I’ve been so bogged down in studying for finals that I haven’t had time to write a proper post. I wanted to add some personality to my blog, so I decided to make a connection between “tikka” and “tik tok”. I know, definitely not my proudest moment, but I felt I needed to get that off my chest and my brain is too fried to do anything else. Oh well - onto the paneer tikka! Thank you to The Bombay Chef Varun Inamdar for the recipe!
Perhaps my favorite part about starting recipes like paneer tikka is the spice assortment (first picture above). There are just so many that come together in a potpourri of different colors, all against a Greek yogurt backdrop. The red chili powder and turmeric especially look like spices you may find in a street market or food stall in a major Indian metropolis (of course, all spices are being shipped for the time being). They end up getting mixed together in homogeneous paste within which paneer can marinate for 20-60 minutes.
A tip I discovered that works well for paneer is that if you take it out of the freezer and microwave the paneer for 1 minute 45 seconds, it attains a very desirable softness. It is also easier to cut into cubes before marinating! I would also strongly encourage marinating for a full hour or more to make sure the paneer absorbs as much flavor as possible. Twenty minute marination will still taste good for sure, but you’ll definitely get an extra kick from the full hour of marination.
There is actually no additional oil involved in charring the paneer into paneer tikka - just some melted butter! I would also strongly encourage using skewers of sorts to char the paneer: it’s definitely more consistent and reliable. The closest thing I had to a skewer was a metal chopstick (and that too only one of them…), so I made do with it and plopped the rest of the pieces on individually. After some turning and charring: voila!
I’d say they came out pretty well! The taste was on point, although next time I’ll probably reduce the amount of chili powder and increase the amount of turmeric. I don’t know why, but having a stronger yellow makes the paneer look more regal in my mind, almost like it’s more powerful or saturated or automatically more flavorful (even though there’s no basis for that).
Well, finals are finally over, so I can finally get some more recipes in the books. I’m also working on an exciting new cooking project that I’ll be sure to mention in the near future - it’s a secret for now!
