Paneer Tikka Pizza
Dec 29, 2014, Updated Jan 02, 2018
Pizza with an Indian Twist! This Paneer Tikka Pizza is full of flavors and will become your new favorite!
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The year is going to end in 2 days. Sorry if I sound like a broken tape record but I still can’t believe that 2014 is over! I swear it just started and now we will be in 2015 in 2 days. Say Whaaaaaaaaa! It will take some time for me to accept that but I think till the time I do that, it will be 2016 already! Isn’t it scary and crazy how quickly time flies, years are passing like days!
We will be welcoming the new year in few days and I am sure everyone has their dinner plans ready already and I am also sure that many will bring in the new year eating pizzas! Don’t we almost always eat pizza when we are happy and celebrating? Well for that matter, I just need a reason to eat pizzas but my only criteria is that it should be homemade. I have mentioned before that I absolutely dislike the loaded cheese in the pizzas that we get in US and so I always make it at home.
This time I made an “Indian pizza” when I was craving for a slice. In India veggie pizzas especially paneer pizzas are pretty common. Paneer as you might already know is Indian cottage cheese which is made by curdling the milk. It’s used in countless Indian recipes and if you ask any vegetarian in India his favorite vegetable, you are more than likely to hear “paneer” in response. It’s that popular and that delicious too.
For the paneer tikka pizza we marinate the paneer cubes with onion, spices and yogurt. We then let it sit for a minimum of 1 hour and then spread it on a pizza base and bake the pizza. You should also use cubed red/green bell peppers [capsicum] here. I would have loved to use them in my pizza too but I ran out of them the day I made this. But if you have them, marinate the green/red bell pepper with the paneer mix. It will make the pizza all colorful and also enhance the taste.
This pizza is loaded with paneer. If you aren’t a huge fan of paneer I would suggest using not more than 200 gms [or even less] paneer for this recipe. Paneer Tikka is the vegetarian version of the most famous Chicken Tikka. I have shared the Paneer Tikka Masala, which is the curry version of paneer tikka on my blog already.
So this time around when the pizza craving kicks in, try this Indian version of pizza. It’s full of flavors and if you love Indian food, this will become your new favorite pizza!
Method
Cut paneer into small cubes. Add finely chopped ginger and garlic to it.
Add cubed onions and mix. Add the dry spices – red chili powder, paprika powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder and curry powder. Also add the regular salt and black salt.
Add in the thick yogurt and mix everything till well combined. Cover and keep this marinated mixture in the refrigerator for 1 hour or preferably overnight. The more time you keep it, the more flavors the paneer and onions will absorb. [1 hour in minimum]
Preheat oven to 500 F degrees. Preheat for 30 minutes before you put the pizza in.
Roll the pizza dough into a 10 inch round pizza base. Poke it with fork all over so that it doesn’t balloon up while in the oven. Fold the edges of the base.
Spread the marinated paneer mixture all over the pizza base.
Top it with shredded mozzarella cheese or any other cheese of your choice. Bake at 500 F degrees for 5 minutes and then rotate the pan 180 degree and bake for another 3 minutes till the cheese is all bubbly and melted.
Slice and serve immediately. We ate this with a yogurt dip and the combination was just amazing!
* Adjust red chili powder to taste. You can also add jalapenos to this pizza to bring in more flavor and spice.
* Keep marinated mixture for a minimum of 1 hour or preferably overnight. The longer you keep it, the more flavors the paneer will absorb.
* The quantity of cheese can be adjusted to taste.
* Use hung curd or very thick yogurt for the marination. To make hung curd, place the yogurt in a muslin cloth and and tie the cloth and let it hang for 2-3 hours or till all it’s water is drained. The curd will now be really thick, without any moisture and perfect to be used in the marination.
Paneer Tikka Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 pizza base homemade or store bought
- 250 grams paneer
- 3.5 tablespoons thick yogurt or hung curd
- 1 teaspoon ginger finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon garlic finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder
- ¼ teaspoon curry powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika powder
- ¼ teaspoon red chili powder or adjust to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black salt
- salt to taste
- ¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese or to taste
Instructions
- Cut paneer into small cubes. Add finely chopped ginger and garlic to it. Add cubed onions and mix.
- Add the dry spices - red chili powder, paprika powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder and curry powder.
- Also add the regular salt and black salt.
- Add in the thick yogurt and mix everything till well combined.
- Cover and keep this marinated mixture in the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour or preferably overnight.
- Preheat oven to 500 F degrees. Preheat for 30 minutes before you put the pizza in.
- Roll the pizza dough into a 10 inch round pizza base.
- Poke it with fork all over so that it doesn't balloon up while in the oven. Fold the edges of the base.
- Spread the marinated paneer mixture all over the pizza base.
- Top it with shredded mozzarella cheese or any other cheese of your choice.
- Bake at 500 F degrees for 5 minutes and then rotate the pan 180 degree and bake for another 3 minutes till the cheese is all bubbly and melted.
- Slice and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
