For a while now, I have been playing with the idea of a Mexican-Indian dish fusion, and this one is a winner. The crispiness of the baked taquito, with the soft paneer and fresh salad, with a cool mint and cucumber sauce drizzled on top gives a flavour and texture explosion like no other.
You can add chillies to the tandoori marinade if you want an extra spicy kick, but don’t cook the paneer for too long; you want it to stay moist and soft.
This dish is easy to prepare, and I recommend that you leave the marinated paneer in the fridge either overnight, or for 1-3 hours (if like me, you change your meal plan at the last minute because you have a new craving!), so that the flavours really have time to develop.
Tandoori Paneer Taquitos
Pure deliciousness for dinner
Ingredients
- 1 pack tortilla wraps
- Cocktail sticks
- 470g paneer, cut in to 2cm x 2cm cubes
- 180g natural yoghurt
- 2 tsps rapeseed oil
- 8g ginger, peeled
- 1 garlic clove
- 1tsp salt
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 5 tsps tandoori powder
- 200g natural yoghurt
- 100g cucumber
- 12 fresh mint leaves
- Salt to taste
- 50g red onion
- 100g baby plum tomatoes
- 75g iceberg lettuce, shredded
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PANEER AND MARINADE
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MINT AND CUCUMBER SAUCE
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SALAD
Directions
- Combine the yoghurt, garlic, ginger and spices in a food processor and mix until smooth
- Add the paneer, and mix well, ensuring everything is well coated. Drizzle with rapeseed oil and mix again. Cover and let it marinate overnight or for 1-3 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
- Cover a large baking tray with grease proof paper and spray with a little oil. Lay out the paneer in a single layer.
- Cook for 20 minutes, stirring carefully half way through.
- In the meantime, combine all of the ingredients for the mint and cucumber sauce and blend until smooth. Add salt to taste.
- Chop the lettuce, onions and tomatoes for the salad topping.
- Remove the paneer from the oven; it should be soft but slightly charred at the edges.
- Lay the tortilla wraps and put paneer in one half only, then roll up and secure with a cocktail stick.
- Place the wraps in the oven for 10-12 minutes, until the wrap starts to brown.
- Remove from the oven and top with the mint and cucumber sauce and salad, before drizzling with extra mint sauce for the final touch.
- Serve hot, and enjoy!
Hina Amlani 