Paneer Bhurji – Scrambled Paneer
Paneer Bhurji is one of the easiest and most famous dishes to make at home, when you are running late for dinner but still want homemade food. Paneer Bhurji is one those dishes you find at Indian dhabas or diners. It can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Soft crumbled paneer along with some spices taste delicious.
Therefore, you would find many variations in this dish. This is the one I love to make. If you are fan of squishy soft paneer, this dish is spicy scrambled version of paneer. Apparently, Vegan can use tofu and can make this dish. Paneer Bhurji is also similar to egg bhurji but more suitable to vegetarians or people who do not eat eggs.
I love to eat bhurji with paratha. You can eat it with anything like bread, or rotis. Incase you have leftover bhurji you can also make sandwiches with them, just add some greens, onions, and cheese if you like or keep it simple stuffed with bhurji. You can even stuff inside puff pastry and bake them in the oven. There are so many options. If you have leftover paratha dough, how about stuff them into parathas and enjoy. It’s so versatile. I loved adding it to Quesadilla. Another dish I love to make is a galette.
Homemade paneer works best for paneer bhurji as it crumbles well and is fresh, soft in texture. I have often used store-bought paneer and it works fine. Just make sure to thaw the paneer in advance and let the whole pack of paneer sit in some hot water to soften it up.
The word Bhurji means scrambled so this dish is scrambled paneer. It’s one of the easiest dishes to prepare and everyone easily loves it. It works for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It pairs well with toasted bread, rotis or parathas.
If you are vegan, you can swap paneer for tofu. It works perfectly well but use firmer variety than soft tofu. It crumbles well.
The ingredients are very commonly available at home.
Paneer Bhurji
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 green chili finely chopped
- 2 clove garlic grated
- 3/4 cup onion finely chopped
- ½ cup bell peppers finely chopped any color of peppers work
- 1/2 cup tomato puree
- Salt to taste
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ½ -1 tsp chili powder depending on your tolerance of heat
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp ground coriander-cumin powder
- 1/8 tsp cardamom powder. Optional
- 2 tbsp kasuri methi optional
- 2 cups paneer
- Cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- 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.
- The consistency of the gravy could be adjusted to personal liking. Garnish it with some cilantro.