AMRITSARI PANEER BHURJI/ DHABA STYLE PUNJABI PANEER BHURJI /पनीर भुरजी
I had been a regular visitor to Amritsar before COVID-19. The two main reasons behind are very genuine. The first one is to seek blessings at the divine Golden Temple and the other is to satiate my hungry soul at numerous food joints (Punjabi genes😉) which are, as world-famous as the Golden Shrine. I can bet that no one can resist roaming in search of lip-smacking food in the narrowest lanes of this food heaven!!
One of the numerous amazing dishes to be enjoyed in Amritsari lanes is the PANEER BHURJI. This is a side dish with crumbled paneer which is cooked with tons of butter and served in a rustic manner on a steel plate with white bread and a few condiments. They add a secret ingredient (which I had been tracking since long) and tried to follow the same process. This is a sincere try to the world-famous Amritsari paneer bhurji. It would be a pleasure to share the same recipe with all my readers.
The amazing fact is that this ‘no fancy’ dish is prepared with very basic and regular ingredients, easily available in our kitchens. Before starting the main dish we have to prepare a paste with besan, adding a few ingredients. This is the only preparation for paneer bhurji which takes merely ten minutes
Prep time – 10-15 min
Cook time – 20 min
Course – Main/Side Dish
Cuisine – Punjabi/Indian
Serves – 4
Author – Bharti Dhawan
INGREDIENTS FOR BESAN/GRAM FLOUR PASTE
• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Besan – 1 tbsp
• Salt, turmeric/ haldi and red chilly powder – 1/2 tsp each
• Milk – 1/2 cup
MAIN INGREDIENTS REQUIRED
• Paneer/Cottage cheese – 300 gms (crumbled)
• Thinly sliced onions – 1 cup
• Thinly sliced tomatoes – 1/2 cup
• Besan paste – 1 and 1/2 tbsp
• Salt – To taste
• Red chilly powder – 1 tsp
• Haldi/turmeric powder – 1 tsp
• Dhania/Coriander powder – 1 tsp
• Cumin/jeera – 1 tsp
• Green chillies – 1-2 tsp
• Coriander leaves – 1 tbsp
• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Butter – 1 tbsp
• Ginger-garlic paste – 1 tbsp
• Milk – 1/2 cup
INGREDIENTS FOR TOPPING
• Finely chopped onions and ginger slices
• Finely chopped green chillies
• Finely chopped coriander leaves
• Garam masala
• Lemon juice
HOW TO MAKE BESAN PASTE
1- Heat oil and add besan. Roast (bhunow) at low flame by stirring continuously. (besan burns quickly)
2- When the colour is changed, add salt red chilly powder and turmeric.
3- Stir and add milk. Whisk continuously till it thickens. Keep aside to use later
DIRECTION FOR PANEER BHURJI
1- Heat oil and butter together. Add cumin/jeera and ginger-garlic paste.
2- Add sliced onions and green chillies and roast/bhunow at high flame, stirring continuously
3- Add salt and powdered spices. Stir and add 1 tbsp water so that spices do not get burnt. Stir to mix well
4- Add chopped tomatoes and bhunow until the masala is prepared
5- Add besan paste and mix well. (Besan/gram flour paste gives it a nutty flavour)
6- Add the half cup milk now and cook (milk makes it rich and runny in texture)
7- Add crumbled paneer now
8- Cook until it releases the oil. Add coriander leaves and mix
9- Serve the heavenly tasty paneer BHURJI with all the ‘ingredients on top’
10- This paneer BHURJI goes well with bread slices and green chutney-onions
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