I am sure every person who is even remotely interested in cooking has a trick up there sleeve or a no fail recipe that they use all the time to salvage disasters, unexpected guests or even to make mundane food look a little more appetizing.
My one such trick dish is an “All purpose Paneer (Indian ricotta cheese) bhurji. Bhurji means “To Scramble” and the most popular version of a Bhurji in India is the Egg Bhurji. Since I am allergic to eating Eggs on its own I make the Paneer version. I have also eaten a Bheja (Goat’s brains) Bhurji which is yummy too.
The reason why I love this recipe is because not only can one eat the Bhurji on its own with hot chapattis/rotis or naan, you can use it to stuff Puff Pastries, Parathas, Potato Fritters, Sandwiches and even make a delicious Bruschetta out of it. It is such a versatile Indian stuffing that I usually make it and then use it over the week to stuff different things and make the dinner table more interesting.
The recipe is simple and easy and every Indian home almost uses the same way to make this. I add Sultanas/Raisins in this to make the dish a little exotic. Especially where there are guests for dinner.You can substitute the Paneer with Eggs or with Goat Brains and get fantastic results.
Recipe: (Cooking time 15 minutes, serves 4)
500 gms Ricotta Cheese or Paneer (I brought Ricotta from a local Deli and did not use the off the shelf ones)
1 large Onion finely chopped
2 medium sized Tomatoes
1 Tbsp Tomato Sauce
2 Green chillies finely chopped (optional)
Freshly chopped Coriander
Salt to taste
1 tsp Red Chilli powder
1 tsp Cumin powder
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tbsp Butter to fry the masala
1/2 cup Raisins/Sultanas (Optional)
Heat Butter in a pan add the cumin seeds and let them splutter. Now add the finely chopped Onions and Green chillies (optional) and saute till the Onions become translucent.
Now add the Tomatoes and let them cook till they have become mushy. Now add the Tomato sauce and mix well.
Crumble the Paneer and add it to the Tomato/Onion mixture. Add all the masalas Salt, Turmeric, Red Chilli powder, Cumin powder and mix well.
Now add the Raisins/Sultanas and let it cook for 5 minutes and there you go your very tasty Paneer Bhurji is read to be served.
I made Potato fritters and stuffed them with a little bit of this filling and shallow fried them. The Potato and the Ricotta go very well together making it a tasty little surprise in otherwise what would be a bland Potato stuffing.
Never made it with ricotta though. Should try it. U use paneer right?
Yes traditionally I would use Paneer but since it is not easily available I went for Ricotta.
Hey…Paneer is available in almost all Indianshoshop's…Sor..will have to try ricotta.