broccoli paneer bhurji | a broccoli recipe with Indian curry spices

Somehow I never liked broccoli cooked like alu gobhi. Whenever I would cook broccoli like Indian curries using my everyday curry powder it would be a mundane kind of subzi not comparable to alu gobhi at all. But that was when we were experimenting with the new vegetable in the market a decade ago. Now I like broccoli in the raw or blanched for mostly. But when the brccoli is not too fresh I need ideas to cook it too.

This broccoli paneer bhurji is one of those ways to use up not so fresh broccoli that was left in the fridge.

I had stopped cooking broccoli the Indian way and loved it in all Chinese recipes I cook and have been using it in many many salads and as a steamed vegetables on the side of a meat or fish meal. I love raw broccoli and lightly steamed broccoli in anything and everything.

But then some vegetables are such that you tend to experiment with those a lot. I made a pesto with broccoli that was just okay nothing great and was never repeated. The broccoli soups were loved by all and became a way to consume all the excess broccoli I would end up buying every week in winters. 

On one of those weeks in winters when I had bought a lot of broccoli and was not able to finish them, I juts blanched a few of them and froze a huge bagful. Frozen broccoli can only be used in soups as we like it, and soups we don't normally have in summers here in India. 

What to do with that huge bag of frozen broccoli then?

I decided to make a broccoli and paneer bhurji on the lines of palak paneer bhurji one fine day and it was such a good taste I finished all the stock frozen broccoli cooking this broccoli paneer bhurji. 

But honestly speaking I did not have any ideas to use frozen broccoli for extremely hot summers as soups were not an option and we like only fresh broccoli otherwise, frozen florets loose their texture.

This broccoli paneer bhurji is the perfect answer for frozen or even stale and limp broccoli. Thankfully so.

ingredients

(2-3 servings)

paneer 150 gm 

roughly minced broccoli (fresh, stale or frozen) 2 cups

fenugreek leaves (fresh or frozen, I used frozen) 1 cup

sliced red onions 1 cup

chopped garlic 1 tbsp

everyday curry powder 2 tsp

turmeric powder 1 tsp

red chilly powder 1/2 tsp

amchoor powder (dry raw mango powder)  1/2 tsp

salt to taste

mustard oil 1 tbsp

procedure

Heat the oil in a kadhai or pan and tip in the garlic first. Let it sizzle for a while and then add the sliced onions. Keep frying till the onions start getting caramelized. 

Add the powdered spices except amchoor powder, mix well and let them cook for a minute. Add the minced broccoli and mix well, cook covered on medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Now add the chopped fenugreek leaves and the cubed paneer as well. Keep stirring and scrambling the paneer and greens in the pan as you cook. Within the next 2-3 minutes the bhurji will be ready. 

Add amchoor powder and mix well. Serve as desired.

Broccoli and paneer bhurji is nowhere close to palak paneer bhurji, it is different but equally tasty. The caramelized onions impart a sweetness that balances the slight bitterness of fenugreek leaves and the broccoli adds body to these flavours. This was the first time I liked broccoli in an Indian spiced curry and I don't mind that the broccoli lost it's texture. We have to use frozen or stale broccoli sometimes and this is a good way to get a nutritious meal with that.

We loved it both with ragi roti and with plain boiled rice.

Are you trying this broccoli paneer bhurji? Let me know when you do.

rasse wali paneer bhurji | a curried paneer scramble that can be your dinner soup...

Paneer bhurji is a scramble cooked quickly using paneer and some onion, tomatoes and herbs. I have done Amritsari paneer bhurji from a cookbook and keep scrambling paneer all the time for convenience.

Basically a quick fix meal or a side dish or even a sandwich filling. Every home has it's own recipe of paneer bhurji with additives like bell peppers, spinach, green peas  or sometimes kasoori methi or fresh methi greens thrown in. I myself depend on such combinations many times when I have to stir up a simple and quick lunch box for the husband.

The dry version can be made using regular store bought paneer or homemade fresh paneer that just gets ready while you are chopping and stir frying your onion and tomatoes etc. It is the gravy version of paneer bhurji that requires a little different approach. The paneer in this case, is not sieved like home made paneer, but just collected from the whey and directly put into the cooking bhurji. The result is a perfectly creamy half curdled paneer into a rich and flavorful curry.

Read on, this is a pictorial step by step recipe so you would know how to go about it exactly the way I did...

ingredients...

full cream milk 1 Liter (to make paneer)
yogurt 1 heaped tbsp to curdle the milk

diced red onions 1 cup
sliced ripe tomatoes (preferably desi tomatoes) 2.5 cup
finely chopped garlic 1 tbsp
finely chopped ginger 1 tbsp
finely chopped green chilies to taste
kashmiri red chilly powder 1 tsp or to taste
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
coriander powder 1 tsp
black pepper powder 1/2 tsp
ghee 1.5 tbsp

procedure...

Heat the milk till it reaches just about to the boiling point, add the yogurt and stir. Take the pan off the flame and let it stand. The milk curdles partially and keep curdling till you prep up the other ingredients.

Now heat the ghee in a deep pan (kadhai) and tip in the chopped ginger, garlic, green chilies and red onions ...

Stir fry these till the onions get translucent, add the powder spices and salt to taste and mix well for about a minute. Then add the sliced tomatoes ..

Cook till the mixture looks like this...

Now sieve the curdled paneer and add to the cooking mixture, without waiting for the whey to drip, this way some of the whey is also added to the curry ..

The curry turns a little watery, mix well and simmer till it reaches the consistency you like...

Garnish with freshly chopped coriander greens...

Serve hot with chapati and some salad...We had this mooli ka acchar with this meal...

This rasse wali bhurji makes a truly soulful food, it can be served with plain parathas or like a hearty soup if you wish. I would love some garlic bread with this bhurji as well.

It makes a good curry for a large crowd too, in that case you would like to use freshly made regular paneer, crumbled nicely and added to the curry along with some fresh milk to make it soft while it cooks further.

Add some green peas if you have them fresh and nice. No frozen peas please.
You could add some kasoori methi as well if you love it that way.
It is the melt in the mouth type paneer that makes this recipe special  seasoning and other flavors can be adjusted to suit your taste.

Amritsari Paneer bhurjee ...

This recipe is supposed to be from the book Chakh Le India by Aditya Bal who hosts the TV show by the same name. The book was sent to us so we can read and try something from it before we meet the author and the host of the TV show. I tried this Amritsari Paneer bhurji the first thing form the book and was planning on Malabar prawns.

Paneer bhurji is a recipe which cannot go wrong and any one staying in a hostel can make it for a quick meal. Toss anything that you like with Paneer and a nice bhurji that you love would be ready in a few minutes.

Still we look out for more variations so there is a recipe for every mood and requirement. That's how we enjoy the same food a renewed interest every time. You don't expect to go wrong with a simple recipe right?

I realised when I started assembling things for the bhurji, having made my paneer freshly., the ingredient list looked just sufficient for my 200 gms of paneer while it was listed for 400 gm. Was proven right later.

The recipe...

ingredients..
200 gm fresh paneer
1 tbsp butter ( Aditya's recipe uses 1 tsp refined oil too, I omitted)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/4" cassia bark (daalchini)
1/2 cup of finely chopped onion( his recipe says1 medium sized onion)
1/2: ginger chopped fine
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp everyday curry powder (his recipe says coriander powder)
salt to taste
1 large ripe tomato chopped fine
1/4 tsp sugar
2 green chillies chopped
1/2 tsp dried mango powder or Amchoor
(I omitted)

To finish the dish...juice of 1/2 lime, 3 tsp chopped coriander greens ( I didn't have) and 1 tbsp butter.

procedure...

Crumble the paneer and set aside.

Heat butter in a pan and add cumin seeds,dalchini and chopped onions all at once. Fry till onions gets golden brown. Add the chopped ginger too. Cook for a minute with the powdered spices added at this step.

Add salt and sprinkle water and bhuno the masala while scraping the pan from sides. Add chopped tomatoes and cook them till they turn mushy. Add sugar to balance the sourness  and keep cooking till a glaze appears.

Add the green chillies, crumbled paneer and the amchoor powder (if using). Mix well to combine. Mash the paneer with the back of the ladle if you wish.

Finish with some more butter, lime juice if required and chopped coriander greens if using.

Served with plain chapatis or parathas this paneer bhurji is great as all of us know :-)

The recipe was tweaked at some places like using my own spice blend and using only butter instead of a little refined oil in the original recipe too. The amount of paneer reduced to half and the dish was actually yummy.

The recipe as written in the book would have left the freshly made paneer (a valuable commodity as I had worked on it) bland and under seasoned.

Did I forget about telling you all about Malabar Prawn curry that I was about to try from this book? When I saw the recipe and the ingredient list, I got worried about the future of the frozen Prawns I had bought thinking of making a yummy dinner for ourselves.  I made this Cashew and Prawns stir fry instead. Couldn't afford to risk a packet of precious Prawns and even pricier Coconut milk.

And then we all at Cal blogger's table went to Veda at CP. To chat with the TV show host and the author of this book. What happened there will be posted just next. Stay tuned in...