Paneer Bhurjee (Scrambled Cottage Cheese Curry)

Paneer or cottage cheese is to vegetarians what chicken/fish/mutton is to non-vegeterains in India. And the fact that you can make cottage cheese very easily at home with full cream milk is an added advantage. Paneer should always be fresh and soft. My wife usually makes this at home whenever we are in the mood to have a paneer dish. You can see several online tutorials about how to make paneer at home. The health conscious among you, can substitute paneer with tofu. However the taste of the dishes would not be the same. So go ahead and indulge in paneer once in a while.

We made this dish today. Since my wife is a vegetarian, I hop to add more and more vegetarian recipes to this blog as we make them.

Ingredients

• 200 gram fresh paneer grated/crumbled
• 1 large onion finely chopped (add more onion to increase the quantity of the dish)
• 1 tbsp finely chopped garlic
• 1 tsp chopped ginger
• A pinch of asafoetida
• 1 tsp whole cumin seeds
• 2 green chillies finely chopped
• 1 large tomato finely chopped
• ½ cup thick cream
• ½ tsp of dried fenugreek leaves, crushed into a fine powder
• 2 tbsp of chopped fresh coriander leaves
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp paav bhaji masala
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• ½ tsp red chilly powder
• Salt as per taste

Method

• Heat the vegetable oil in a pan.
• Lower the flame and add the asafoetida and whole cumin seeds to the hot oil
• After a few seconds, add the finely chopped garlic and sauté the garlic until they turn slightly brown but not burnt. Add the finely chopped ginger after sautéing the garlic for a few seconds.
• Add the finely chopped onion and sauté them until they caramelize but are not burnt
• Add the paav bhaji masala, turmeric powder, red chilly powder and a tbsp. of water
• Sauté the masala for a minute
• Add the finely chopped tomato and sprinkle some water over it. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until the tomato becomes mushy and the oil separates from the masala.
• Add the crumbled paneer and mix everything well
• Add salt as needed
• Cook this for a couple of minutes and then add the cream. Mix everything well
• Cook further for two minutes.
• Sprinkle the dried fenugreek leaf powder and then add the chopped coriander leaves
• Serve hot with naan or roti

Notes

• The final texture should not be dry but a little wet. So add the cream (you can also add plain milk instead of cream)

Dal Makhani

Ingredients

• Whole black lentil (Sabut urad dal) - 250 gm
• Ghee/Oil - 4 tbsp
•  Asafoetida (Hing) - one pinch
• Onion chopped - 1 large
• Tomato chopped - 2 medium
• Chilly powder - ½ tsp
• Turmeric powder - a small pinch
• Coriander powder - ¼  tsp
• Everest garam masala - 1/2 tsp
• Salt to taste

Make a coarsely ground/crushed paste of the following

• Green chilly - 1
• Jeera - 1/2 tsp
• Garlic crushed - 10 cloves
• Ginger crushed - 1" piece

 Method

• Soak the black lentils for 30 minutes in water. (3 cups of water for 1 cup of dal). Drain the water.
• Pressure cook the lentils with 3 cups of water for about 12 minutes (or until it is done). Bring the pressure cooker to full pressure and then lower the flame and let it cook. After about 12 minutes switch off the flame and then let it cool naturally. Once the pressure is completely released, check if the dal is cooked. If it is not, cook for a few minutes again. Open and mash the contents in the cooker slightly.
• Heat a pan and add the ghee/oil
• Add the  asafoetida
• Add the crushed ingredients and saute for about 2 minutes
• Add the onion and saute till they turn translucent
• Add the turmeric powder, chilly powder, coriander powder and garam masala (Everest garam masala)
• Add the chopped onions
• Saute till the masala is cooked
• Add the ingredients of the cooker
• Add water if required (the gravy should be of pouring consistency)
• Cook for about 10 minutes
• Add salt and coriander leaves
• Add a dollop of butter before serving (in that case add a little less salt in the beginning)

This tastes best when it stands for a couple of hours at least after cooking. Serve with hot naans.

Usually people also add one/two tablespoons of kidney beans (rajma) along with the black lentils. You can also add 3-4 tbsp of fresh cream after cooking.

This has been cooked by my wife who is a vegetarian and this is a favourite dish of many vegetarians. This is a very popular Punjabi dish.

Mushroom, Babycorn, Bell Pepper Malai Masala

Finally a vegetarian dish. This one cooked for my better half who is a vegetarian.

Ingredients

• 250 gm white button mushrooms, cleaned and quartered.
• 100 gm babycorn cut into 1" diagonal pieces
• 1 large capsicum cut into 1" square pieces
• 2 large onions peeled and boiled for 5 minutes
• 2 green chillies chopped finely
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 green cardamom
• 2" piece cinnamon
• 5 cloves
• A pinch of mace powder
• 1 tbsp of garlic paste
• 1 tbsp of ginger paste
• 1" ginger julienned
• 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• ½ tsp of cumin powder
• ½ tsp of garam masala powder
• 4 tbsp fresh cream
• 1 cup of chopped coriander leaves
• 3 tbsp of vegetable oil
• Salt as per taste
• 1 cup of water

Method

• Grind the boiled onion to a fine paste
• Heat the oil in a large pan or kadai
• Add the bay leaves, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and mace powder
• Once the aroma of the spices is released, add the onion paste
• Sauté the onion paste till it is lightly brown
• Add the ginger and garlic pastes and sauté the masala till the raw smell of the ginger and garlic goes away
• Add the coriander powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder and garam masala powder
• Fry the masala till the oil separates
• Add the chopped green chillies
• Add the vegetables and half the cup of chopped coriander leaves and fry for a couple of minutes
• Add water and salt and bring the mixture to a boil
• Reduce the heat and let the dish simmer till the vegetables are cooked through (since mushroom and capsicum cooks fast, you can blanch the babycorns before adding them to the dish)
• Add the remaining coriander leaves and the fresh cream
• Garnish with coriander leaves and ginger juliennes

You can vary the masalas to get different variations to this dish. I added a whole lot of cream which is why the dish is slightly whiter.

You can make this dish by completely avoiding the cream also.


A couple of more pictures