Rukmini Iyer's Quick and Easy Spicy Paneer and Potato Skewers with Mint-Lime Dressing – Cooking Guide
One found with joy that the South Indian seasoning podi – a rubble of searingly hot, crudely milled spices, which you combine with a little oil and use as a dip for dosa or idli – is also known as “gunpowder” spice mix. This is accurate if you were using my grandmother’s homemade dried chilies, but it would be kind to say that I’m far less adventurous with chilli, so here I suggest crushed chilies instead. It’s an exceptionally great marinade for these paneer and potato skewers.
Spicy Paneer and Potato Skewers with Mint-Lime Dressing
Prepare six to eight metal or wooden skewers (if wooden, let them sit in water for 10 minutes first).
Prep 10 min
Cook 30 min
Serves two people
Four hundred grams firm potatoes, chopped into four-centimeter chunks
Two hundred twenty-five grams paneer, cubed into two-centimeter cubes
1 tsp coriander seeds
Half a teaspoon fennel seeds
One tsp cumin seeds
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 tsp chilli flakes
1½ tsp flaky sea salt, plus extra to serve
2 garlic cloves, skinned and shredded
1-inch piece fresh ginger, prepared and minced
Forty milliliters mild oil
1 red onion, peeled and cut into eight wedges, then halved crossways
For the dressing
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
Ten grams fresh mint leaves, minced
Half a tsp flaky sea salt
100g natural yoghurt
Boil the potatoes for nine minutes, then remove the water and leave to steam dry for a minute. Meanwhile, put the paneer cubes in a container with heated water for 5 minutes, then remove water and dry gently.
Pour the spice seeds into a mortar or spice grinder, add the seasonings, then mash or process to a rough rubble.
Tip into a sizable container with the shredded aromatics, add the oil, then gently stir in the paneer cubes, boiled potatoes, and onion wedges to coat. Thread the vegetables and cheese on to six to eight metal or soaked wooden skewers, then place on a tray and keep ready – if you like, you can at this stage wrap and chill the skewers.
Beat all the ingredients for the dressing in a medium bowl. Preheat the broiler to its maximum heat, then bake the sticks for five to seven minutes on each side, until the paneer is golden brown and the potatoes are starting to char. (This may take a little more or less time depending on the intensity of your oven, so monitor closely, especially when cooking the first side.)
Serve the skewers hot, scattered with a little more salt and the dressing alongside for dipping.
