Paneer Bhurji

Hello boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun! We've already seen a couple of paneer dishes in our time together, that have nice, succulent, chunks of paneer in a gravy of sorts. So I thought in this next recipe, we could look at cooking our favourite result of curdled milk, a little differently. We break it down into tiny, almost cous-cous like pieces and cook it with just 2 masalas so the taste of the paneer isn't masked by the rest of the ingredients. Best part is, it takes about an eighth of the effort and has just as much flavour! 

I have seen (and heard) a misconception over the years that since the name of the dish has the word 'bhurji' in it (a Hindi word, synonymous to scrambled eggs), it is non-vegetarian. Now, I don't know where this piece of information originated, but unless the source has a very warped idea of how this dish should be, people have been, I'm afraid, greatly misinformed. The good news is, since this dish is completely vegetarian, you can partake in all the delights that it has to offer. Rich creamy paneer with fresh capsicum and tomatoes and a hint of chilli. Accompany this with a rich dal makhani and some hot rotis or parathas and you'll soon have a meal to brag about.

For Paneer Bhurji, you will need the following:

Paneer                                   300 gms

Onion                                     1/4

Green chillies                          2

Green pepper                          1/2

Tomato                                  1

Haldi (turmeric)                      2 tsp

Red chilli powder                     1 tsp

Double cream/milk                  splash

Salt                                        to taste

Oil

Prep:

1. Boil about 3 cups of water.
2. Pour it into a bowl.
3. Cut open the packet of your store bought paneer.
4. Cut the paneer into cubes.
5. Dunk the cubes into the boiling water.
6. Forget about it for 10-15 minutes.
7. Chop the onion (not too fine).
8. Chop the green pepper (each piece slightly larger than the onion pieces).
9. Chop the tomato.
10. Chop the chillies.
11. Return to the soaked paneer.
12. Drain the water.
13. Crumble it down to as fine as you can make it. (Little lumps are fine. Don't be too fussed.)

Method:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a pan on.
3. Splash in some oil.
4. Count to 20 as the oil heats up.
5. Drop in the onion.
6. Toss in the chillies.
7. Cook until the onion gets translucent.
8. Sprinkle in the haldi and the red chilli powder.
9. Mix for a couple of minutes until the masalas are cooked.
10. Plop in the paneer.
11. Mix well until the paneer is uniformly yellow.
12. Cook for 2 minutes.
13. Add in the green pepper.
14. Slide in the tomato.
15. Add salt to taste.
16. Mix well.
17. Slap a lid on.
18. Leave to cook for a few minutes.
19. Take lid off.
20. Splash in the double cream/milk. (Forget about the calories! This will make it soft and moist.)
21. Mix well.
22. Adjust the salt if you need to.
23. Slap the lid back on for 2 minutes.
24. Turn the gas off.
25. Serve with garam rotis or parathas.

Tip: If you're running low on paneer and can't run to the store to buy more, boil some milk and squeeze in a lemon to curdle it. Then just run it through a clean cloth and voila, paneer!

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!