Paneer Tikka Kebabs

Spice level: (Keep Kalm & Korma on, Kinda Krazy, KAAHHMAGAD)

Feeds: 4

When someone says 'BBQ' and 'cheese', your mind instinctively turns to those orange sheets of sweaty burger cheese or halloumi... am I right? But there's another tasty cheese out there; my fave, paneer.

My love for the white stuff knows no bounds. Whether it's cut up, fried and chucked into a bright green Sag sauce or sliced and cooked with peppers and onions in my best friend's mum's (biggup Mummy B) secret sauce, paneer is just AMAZING. Low in salt, it takes on the flavour of whatever it is you're cooking, much like tofu, and as such it works *really* well in a tikka marinade.

Unlike its saltier brother, halloumi, paneer can take being skewered. It doesn't crumble under pressure making it the perfect meat-free kebab alternative.

This recipe is adapted from Dassana Amit's 'Paneer Tikka Kebab' as featured on vegrecipesofindia.com.

I've only really removed the ingredients I think most would struggle to find. Besan flour has been swapped for plain, I didn't have ajwain, chat masala powder nor amchur so I omitted those (FYI, lime juice is a fab replacement for amchur, it's used to make dishes more acidic). All you've got to do now is hunt down the sunshine...

Main Ingredients:

• 250 to 300g paneer

• 1 medium to large pepper (green, yellow or red)

• 1 medium to large onion

Marinade:

• 250g thick yoghurt

• 4 tbsp plain flour

• ½ tsp turmeric powder/haldi

• ½ tsp black pepper

• ½ tsp carom seeds/ajwain

• ½ tsp caraway seeds/shahjeera

• ½ tsp dry fenugreek leaves, crushed

• 1 tsp coriander powder/dhania powder

• 1 tsp cumin powder

• 1 tsp garam masala powder

• 1 tsp dry mango powder/amchur powder

• 2 tsp red chilli

• ¾ tbsp ginger garlic paste

• ¾ tsp lime juice

• 2 to 3 tbsp oil or as required

• ¾ tsp regular salt or rock salt or add as required

Method: Prepping the paneer & veggies

• Slice the paneer into ¼ inch squares or cubes or rectangles

• Rinse the veggies. halve the onion and remove each layer one by one

• Dice the capsicum/bell pepper into square shaped slices

• Keep to one side

Preparing the marinade:

• Give the yoghurt a good stir in a bowl to thicken it

• Add all the spices and herbs, flour and salt, except oil. Stir and mix well. Taste the marinade and add salt it required

• Add the diced vegetables (onion and pepper) along with paneer slices

• With your hands mix well so that the marinade coats the paneer and veggies evenly

• Cover the bowl and keep the marinade in the fridge for 45 minutes to 3 hours, but try to keep overnight if possible

• Put the paneer and peppers onto the skewers in an order you'll stick to

• Heat the BBQ well and place the kebabs on it, turning regularly