Paneer Bhurji Galette
I have been seeing all these tomato galette recently on my feed. So, all of sudden I had an idea of making Paneer Galette. It was so quick, that I went to supermarket to get all the ingredients and made it immediately for dinner. It was so good and glad I had one slice left for next day’s lunch.
Galette are more rustic than a pie or tart. Anyone, who feels a little intimidated by pie dough will not feel this way with galette. They are super simple and there is no real perfection required to form a galette. It’s free form design.
It has flaky, tender, crust and if you are making savory galette then ideally a cheesy, herby flavor is the best. Often, galette can be made with summer vegetables like tomatoes, zucchini, squash etc.
It can be enjoyed for lunch, or dinner. You can even have it for picnics because they carry well. You can even serve them in small bite size for parties and get togethers. You know, how much I love entertaining. So, I will sure share a recipe that can easily serve for parties.
You can also use store- bought pie crusts, if you want to take shortcuts. Nothing wrong with it. But if you get hang of making the crust then its all simpler too. You will miss out the flavors of the crust recipe that I am sharing today. Its so good.
Galette are so versatile because they can be made sweet or savory. Deliciousness should not be limited.
I have shared peach and blueberry galette, a ricotta asparagus galette using store bought puff pastry.
I love the idea of storing some galette dough in the freezer. It makes it so much easier. I do save some pie dough in the freezer. Making the filling hardly takes time.
I would usually make a salad to go with galette dinner, but this time we just ate the galette with a side of mango lassi. It was extremely filling, and we even had leftovers.
Anytime, you have vegetarian friends coming over, you can easily impress them with a savory galette.
You can make it with all white flour, or a mix of flours also work well. You can use butter, or ghee. Yes, ghee makes a great galette. I used a combination in my recipe. You need fats. Oil does not work here.
As I told you, I have flavored my dough too. You can add herbs, cheese, or spices. I have used sesame seeds, turmeric powder, fennel seeds, black pepper. You can even use cumin seeds, kalonji seeds (onion seeds), herbs like rosemary, thyme. I love to have flavor in every component.
The fillings could be anything from mushrooms to asparagus, leeks, onions, potatoes etc. You can also use any type of cheese really that goes well with whatever filling you are making. The filling should be flavorful, and not watery. You want to make sure to cook the water content from your fillings. I learnt this good tip, that use a layer of cheese especially hard cheese in between the dough and fillings. It does not make your base watery.
My galette recipe is bursting with flavors. The crust is made with all white flour, sesame seeds, fennel seeds (so good), black pepper, and a mix of ghee and butter.
I filled it with paneer bhurji with all the warming spices so flavorful. Topped with tomatoes, cheese, basil. You cannot dislike it. Its so good.
Paneer Bhurji Galette
Ingredients
For the crust
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp sesame seeds black & white
- ½ tsp freshly grated black pepper
- 1 stick butter or (4 tbsp butter + 4 tbsp ghee) (I used ghee+butter)
- 4-5 tbsp ice cold water
Filling/ Topping
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ½ – ¾ cup onion finely chopped
- 1 green chili finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic grated
- ½ – ¾ cup bell peppers, finely chopped I used three colors of peppers
- ½ cup tomato puree
- Salt to taste
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ½ tsp chili powder depending on your tolerance of heat
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp freshly ground coriander seeds
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 200 grams paneer about 11/2 – 2 cups
- 1 medium sized tomato sliced into circles
- 2 tbsp Cheese, any melty cheese would be great I used Amul cheese cube
- 1 Jalapeno
- few sprigs Basil any herbs
Instructions
To make the crust
- Whisk together the dry ingredients. Work in the butter & ghee until the mixture is crumbly and the butter forms pea-sized granules in the flour. You can use your hands or a food processor.
- Drizzle in 4-5 tablespoons of water, stirring gently until everything is evenly moistened; add the final tablespoon of water if necessary, to make the dough come together. Your dough will look shaggy, crumbly and might look like it won’t form a disc.
- Dump the dough into a parchment paper, pat the dough to form into a disk, wrap it, and refrigerate for 10-20 minutes. The goal is to keep the butter still cold inside the dough which will make it flaky when it bakes.
To make the filling
- Take some oil in a pan, once the oil heats up add some cumin seeds. Let them splutter and immediately add the onions, garlic, green chilies. Let them cook for few minutes until the onions turn soft and translucent.
- Add the bell peppers. Cook for few minutes.
- Add the tomato puree and followed by all the spices and seasonings. Let the flavors come along and the mixture dry out a little bit.
- Add the grated paneer to it. Paneer will soak up all the flavors, juices and mix until you see semi dry mixture. Taste to make sure, seasoning is okay.
- Completely cool the mixture before adding it to the galette.
Assembly of the Galette
- Pre- heat your oven to 375-400 F. Take the dough out for just few minutes before rolling. Use some dry flour and roll out your dough, rotating it every few rolls to keep it from sticking. It would be little bit hard to roll it at first, but it will come along. Stop when it's about 10 or 11 inches in diameter, or when it's at a thickness that is preferred by you. I prefer very thinly rolled but enough that it can hold the filling.
- At any given point, your dough starts sticking too much. You can place it in the refrigerator for few minutes after forming the disc.
- Add your filling. Spread it in an even layer depending on the top crust layer you want. I prefer 1-inch top crust. If you like more top crust, you can leave about 2 inches from disc and keep a broader border.
- Place your thinly sliced tomatoes in circles, covering the filling. Add some grated cheese.
- Make slits on the borders of your dough with a knife. Then fold these little sections on top of the filling, creating a tight seal. This is fun part as you can fold it anyways you like.
- You can egg wash the borders of the dough or use cream if you do not eat eggs. I completely, disregarded this step. I did not do anything to the dough and it still turned out great.
- Bake your galette – Place the galette with parchment paper lined baking tray in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until your crust is a deep golden brown. You want the crust to be golden brown for that flakiness.
- Remove it from the oven once it baked. Brush the edges with ghee or butter. Add some more cheese while its hot and throw in some herbs. Basil was great in this one. I added some jalapenos on top because I love spicy. They were great. If you don’t like spicy, avoid it.
- Slice it in triangles and serve it with side of salad or a drink.
Notes
XO, Devangi