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.

Paneer Butter Masala with a Chance of Chicken Pieces!

Mothers are great time and money savers. Mothers like me use that saved up time and money to do things they like! Like shopping for their little bub.

Remember the Anaarkali Butter Chicken from the other day?

Well, I saved its leftover gravy/sauce for a day like today. Sunny, bright, warm at eight degrees. Perfect to go out for a stroller walk. Little time to spend in the kitchen.

I work well when I get my dose of vitamin D. That affects the way I think. And today I came up with an award-winning idea of making paneer a little differently. To go into the leftover butter chicken gravy. This is how meals on the spur are made in my home now that I have a baby who vies for attention all the time.

I boiled three litres of whole milk. While the milk was bubbling, I added about four tablespoons of white vinegar to curdle the milk.

I quickly chopped some fresh coriander leaves, about 10 raisins and crushed some kasuri methi to add to my paneer. No pre-meditated thought about these ingredients. I just thought that they would go well with the butter chicken gravy.

As soon as I added the herbs, I turned the heat off and mixed everything well. I wanted to retain the color of the coriander.

A colander lined with two layers of cheesecloth was already kept ready in the kitchen sink.

Twist and turn the cheesecloth to tightly pack the curdled cheese in it. I used the kitchen faucet to hang my cheese for about 20 minutes to get the last drop of liquid drip off.

Then I used two large dinner plates and the granite mortar to squeeze out the last remains of moisture from the paneer and give it some structure.

Since I was still gripped with a rare bout of creativity, I cut the paneer block into little diamonds. Or so I thought.

I heated the leftover sauce with a little warm water. Added a handful of green peas and dunked the paneer in.

And voila! I had the most beautiful-looking Paneer Butter Masala for dinner today. But hush, no one should know that it was made with leftover butter chicken gravy. Not until someone bites into a little piece of chicken!

On another day, I’d make a paneer dish like this or this.

Thakumar Chhanaar Dalna

The Chhanaar Dalna (Bengali Cottage Cheese Curry) is a makeup recipe for all my vegetarian readers. I also want to remind the rest of you about the huge possibilities of vegetarian cooking in Bengali cuisine. This is an old-school recipe with paneer (Indian cottage cheese), a welcome shift from the matar and palak paneer dishes of the mainstream world.

Sad but true, in olden days, widowed Bengali women had to live on vegetarian food after their husbands passed on. They had to denounce worldly pleasures, wear whites, chop off their manes, and sometimes even live separately from the main family house.

Whoever invented a Chhanaar Dalna probably did a whole lot of good to such women. This way they got their share of calcium from the paneer, and a whole lot of flavor in the aromatic sauce of cumin-ginger-garam masala it is cooked in.

I love the old fashioned touch to this recipe, although I am not too pleased about certain stereotypes attached to vegetarian food in Bengali culture. Thankfully, a lot of it is a thing of past in urban families. There is no greater pleasure for me to see my own Thakuma (Grandmother) slurp on chicken soup. I have a feeling my Dadu (Grandfather) too is pleased as punch to watch his wife living a “normal” life from up there.

Ingredients for Chhanaar Dalna are:

500 homemade paneer, cut into cubes
2 medium size white potatoes, cut into cubes
2 medium size ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 inch knob of ginger
4-5 green chilies
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
One-fourth teaspoon garam masala powder
2 black cardamoms
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
4 tablespoons mustard oil
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt

Grind to a smooth paste two tablespoons cumin seeds, ginger, and the green chilies. Keep aside.

Heat mustard oil in a large sauté pan or wok. Toss in the cubed potatoes till they are browned on the edges, remove with a slotted spoon.

In the same oil, add the pieces of paneer, give a quick sauté and remove.

Throw in a teaspoon of cumin seeds and the black cardamoms in the leftover oil of the wok, let them crackle for a few seconds before you add the chopped tomatoes. Stir well, add two tablespoons of the cumin-ginger-chili paste. With the back of your ladle, press the tomatoes to release all their juices. Add red chili powder, turmeric, sugar, salt and garam masala powder. Keep cooking this mixture on medium heat till the raw taste of the ingredients goes away and little bubbles of oil appear around it.

Pour about two cups of water into the tomato and spices. Let it boil for 7-8 minutes and then toss the sautéed potatoes.

Cook the potatoes till they are done, add the paneer, bring to a boil and turn the heat off. Check the seasoning and adjust if needed.

The Chhanaar Dalna makes up for a great main with some steamed rice. Serve it while its piping hot with fresh flavors.

Colors of India Paneer Tikka

My patriotism found its way to the dinner table with this easy Paneer Tikka recipe, which had all the colors of India – Saffron, White and Green.

On a less patriotic day, you can even use tomatoes.

Ingredients for Paneer Tikka are:

400 grams paneer, cut into thick cubes
Quarter cup plain yogurt
1 green bell pepper, cut in cubes
1 orange bell pepper, cut in cubes
1 medium red onion, cut in quarters and layers separated
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 heaped teaspoon cumin powder
Half teaspoon garam masala powder
1 teaspoon garlic paste
1 teaspoon ginger paste
Canola or Olive oil
Chaat masala
Half a lime/lemon
Salt

Marinate paneer, yogurt, bell peppers, onion, ginger-garlic paste, chili, cumin, garam masala powders, salt and oil in a bowl. Toss everything nicely to coat the spices on to the paneer and vegetables. Keep for 30 minutes to an hour.

Weave the paneer and vegetables on bamboo skewers. Soak the skewers in water for 20 minutes before you use them. Then line them with some oil and prick the ingredients, this way they won’t crack when you throw them in the oven.
Pre-heat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place the paneer skewers on it.

It should take about 40 minutes for your Paneer Tikka to get ready. Turn the skewers mid-way to cook evenly. You can also use a grill or a gas tandoor to make Paneer Tikka.

Squirt some lemon juice and sprinkle some chaat masala on the Paneer Tikka. Serve by itself or with green chutney.