Combine ingredients for basic marination. Gently fold and combine. Divide it into two equal portions.
Combine ingredients for the green Pasto in a mixure jar and make paste. Add this paste in one portion of the basic marination. You can also add some dry mint powder if available. Add few cubes of Paneer, capsicum and onions to this marination and gently fold and combine everything using your hands.
Add chilli powders to the other part of the basic marination. Add few cubes of Paneer, capsicum and onions to this marination and gently fold and combine everything using your hands.
Now take the BBQ sticks, and start passing it through the veggies and paneer. Start and finish with the hardest veggi (capsicum) in order to hold paneer firmly in between. Veggies should be tightly close to each other. Be very gentle.
Grilling : 1. On a pan (grill pan preferable), take some mustard oil. Bring it to a smoking point. Then add some butter and place the BBQ sticks made ready with veggies. Brush some butter over it. Grill evenly on all sides. DO NOT COMBINE TWO FlaVOURS IN THE SAME PAN. 2. You may cook it directly over gas flame/ tandoor / charcoal flame. 3. Grill on high flame. 4. If you want to add tandoori flavour, you can smoke it up with charcoal.
Squeeze lemon over the grilled veggies, sprinkle the seasoning and serve hot with onion- cabbage salad.
Variation : 1. Achari paneer kabab : add a tsp (more /less) of mother's recipe achar and 1/4 tsp turmeric powder to the basic marination. 2. Kesari paneer kabab : add roasted saffron strands and a drop of orange food colour to the basic marination.
Tips: 1. Cutting veggies in the appropriate size is very important. Too small cubes will break on the stick. Too thin and small paneer will also break on the stick. 2. Paneer cubes must not be too thick and too big. It will taste plain from inside if too thick. 1cm thickness should be enough. 3. You can use thick slices of a potato at the two ends to hold all the veggies and paneer in-between firmly on the stick. 4. Do not overcook or else paneer will get chewy.
5. Use fresh and firm paneer that is perfectly moistured. Much moistured paneer will break on the stick and too dry paneer will crumble and break too. 6. Add lemon juice in the basic marination if your curd is mild.
My mistakes as seen in the pics: 1. I used very thick slices of paneer. 2. I mixed up two flavours on the same pan. 3. I used dhosa pan. The oil was rolling down to the sides.
