Aman Kahlon’s Paneer Bhurji, The Morning Star of Indian Breakfasts

By now you must have realised that I have exhausted on my recipe repertoire. Hence I am borrowing recipes from other people. And these I realise are culinary stars.

Today is one such day when I am happy making Aman’s Paneer Bhurji, something that I instantly desired to have. Hence I got four liters of milk yesterday and made some homemade paneer to bring Aman’s bhurji recipe to life in my own kitchen.

Bhurji is a North Indian word for anything that is “scrambled”. Egg bhurji and paneer bhurji being the most common. A paneer scramble like this for breakfast brings order back in many homes in India.

I fondly recall how my Mother would make scrambled eggs with lots of seasonal vegetables and serve them for breakfast on school days. The same variation would be made with homemade paneer too on other days. Being a Mother of two school going girls who wouldn't want repeats in their breakfast or school “tiffin” was a very high-pressure job for my Mum. In her long and distinguished career as a working mother, Mum would never give us stale, frozen, store-bought or leftovers for school lunch. Every day was a new meal. Day after day. Year after year. Until one day we went to college and decided that the food in the college canteen was more interesting!

Aman’s Paneer Bhurji is my dedication to Mothers all over the world who wake up every morning and make fresh, nutritious meals for their families every day. They, for me are the real persons of substance. A notch higher than the Nigellas and Giadas of the glamorous world of food.

The ingredients for Aman Kahlon’s Paneer Bhurji are:

500 grams fresh, homemade paneer, hung for about 5-10 minutes
1 medium size red onion, finely chopped
3 medium size ripe red tomatoes, grated and skin discarded (I retained the skin for an instant face pack!)
Handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
4-5 green chillies, finely chopped (Don’t add if kids are eating)
Half teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder
A generous pinch of turmeric
1 small stick of butter (salted or unsalted)
2 tablespoons Canola oil
Salt

Keep all your raw ingredients ready. Chopped red onion, coriander and green chillies.

And the grated tomatoes.



Begin by heating the oil and butter in a pan.

Don’t let the butter burn. As soon as it starts melting, add the chopped onions and sauté on medium-high till they become translucent.

Next add that red chilli powder and pinch of turmeric.

Mix everything around, and add the chopped coriander and green chillies. Cook them for 2-3 minutes.

Now add the grated fresh tomatoes to the pan. Season with salt.

Cook the tomatoes on low-medium heat for 8-10 minutes till you see a line of oil at the sides of the pan. Add the paneer at this point in time.

Break the paneer down and mix well with the tomato-onion mixture. Move it around in the pan and watch as it releases some of its own moisture. Let the moisture dry out a bit, but not completely. Else, the paneer will parch and leave you with a completely dry bhurji. Turn the heat off, do a taste test, season with salt if necessary.

Add leftover garnish if any and serve the paneer bhurji with parathas or rotis. You can even sneak a thick layer of this leftover bhurji in a sandwich the next day.