Then add 3 tablespoons fresh curd (yogurt or dahi). Do not add the whey of the curd. Just add the curd or else the marination becomes thin. You can also use greek yogurt or hung curd. The marination has to be thick. If not then it won't coat the paneer cubes and you will just get a bland taste of fried paneer.
Grind to a smooth paste without adding any water.
Take the ground green paste in a bowl. Then add the following ingredients - ¼ teaspoon carom seeds, ¼ teaspoon red chilli powder, ⅛ teaspoon turmeric powder, ¼ teaspoon cumin powder, ¼ teaspoon coriander powder, ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder, ¼ teaspoon dry mango powder and ¼ teaspoon chaat masala powder.
Then add 1 tablespoon rice flour. You can also use 1 tablespoon besan (gram flour) or corn flour instead.
Next add ¼ teaspoon black salt and ¼ teaspoon regular salt or add as required.
Now add 1 teaspoon lemon juice.
Mix everything very well. Check the taste and add more salt if required.
marinating paneer
Now add paneer cubes (200 grams). You can even add onion, tomato, capsicum cubes if you want. I have not added them. One small onion, 1 small tomato and 1 small capsicum (bell pepper) can be used in the recipe.
Gently mix the paneer cubes with the marinade.
Cover and marinate for minimum 30 minutes at room temperature or a couple of hours in the fridge. Below is the pic after marinating for 30 minutes at room temperature.
frying paneer hariyali tikka on tawa
Heat 2 to 3 tablespoons oil in a tawa. Coat the paneer cubes well with the marinade and place them on the tawa. Pan fry paneer cubes on medium flame.
When one side is crisp and golden, turn each paneer cubes and fry the second side.
Fry the second side also till crisp & golden. Flip a couple of times for even frying. Do add more oil if required. This way fry the paneer in batches of two or three.
Remove the paneer cubes in a plate. You can place them on kitchen paper towels to remove extra oil.
Once the heat is enough to handle, then you can thread them on tooth picks. Or you can just serve them directly with small fork or toothpicks.
Serve crispy paneer hariyali tikka made on tawa with mint chutney or coriander chutney. Sprinkle some chaat masala on the tikka before serving. Also accompany some onion slices and lemon wedges.
Notes
Veggies like onion, tomato and capsicum (bell pepper) can be added in the marination along with paneer cubes.
Oil can be skipped if you want.
You can add spice powders more or less as per your preferences.