Tandoori Tofu Tikka with Onions and Potatoes

This is one recipe I had to put immediately no matter what. I don't have a grill nor do I have a traditional tandoor. But I figured out how to make this coveted tandoor dish in my oven. It tasted so so yummmm. I had this slab of tofu lying around in my fridge and said to my self-"why not give it a try?" I made these in the afternoon and the smell of this dish woke my husband up and he told me,"what ever you are cooking in that oven; it is making me hungry". Hahhahaha.....the whole house smelt of wonderful tikka being cooked.

Grilling the tikkas are the best option next to tandoor, but some recipes suggest frying them in a pan. I tried that and it never gave me the tandoor essence. This oven recipe does justice to the tikkas.

Tandoor traditionally is an clay oven (cylindrical) meant for cooking and baking. Tandoor dishes were introduced to India by the Mughals (from the Persian and Afgan culture). As these regions (mostly were desserts) in olden days lacked enough wood that was needed to cook, they used these clay oven's cook their food.

Here is the recipe for a quick afternoon snack:-

5-6 squares of extra firm tofu (medium thickness).
one small sized onion diced
one small sized potato cut in rounds of medium thickness
fresh lime as desired

Tip:-If your tofu is not firm, you may bake it on a greased tray @350 F for 5-10 minutes. They normally ooze out the extra water and become firm than what they were before.

Marinating Batter:-
1/2 cup of curds
1 tbl spn of red chilli powder
1 tsp of jeera powder
1 tsp of garam masala
1 tsp of coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp kasoori methi
1 tsp pf mint leaves paste
1 tbl spn of ginger-garlic paste
1 tbl spn of oil
salt to taste
pinch of saffron food color (optional)


Method:-
With some kitchen tissues, press the tofu gently to take out as much water as you can.
Mix all of these in a bowl and add the tofu, potatoes and onions in the bowl and marinate them for at least an hour or two (over night is excellent).

Put them in your skewers . (I just used one skewer)
Preheat the oven to 400 F.

After an hour, use a baking tray/pan (small 8" square one) to support the ends of the skewers. This is done so that, the tikkas do not touch the tray (they tend to stick to the stray and will break when you try to pull them off) and secondly, the marinating liquid tends to drip and liquid will collect in the tray and will not dirty your oven.
Mine took 10-15 minutes to cook and some dark spots appeared on the surface. If you want more burnt look, keep it longer.
Keep a watch on the oven every 5 minutes so that they won't get burnt.
Take them out and let them cool.
Squeeze some lemon juice on them and relish.

Welcome my new family member, freebee. Avi found this lovely plant next to our apt's trash area with a note last night (poor thing was freezing in the cold). We immediately adopted her. Doesn't she look lovely?