Recipes·Vegetarian·Gluten-Free·High-Protein·Post-Bariatric Surgery·GLP-1 Medications

Paneer Bhurji, Small Plate

Punjab and Mumbai, India · Punjab, by way of the Mumbai street stall, where paneer bhurji is the vegetarian answer to anda bhurji and gets spooned into buttered pav. This leans on Smita Singh’s dry Mumbai street-stall version at Kali Mirch by Smita rather than her saucier Amritsar one, without her capsicum, garlic, or pav bhaji masala so it stays soft and mild, and resized from a pav-stuffing portion to four half-cup plates for the soft-food stage after bariatric surgery. The chile is optional and a spoonful of milk keeps the paneer moist.

Paneer crumbled fine and kept moist in a quick scramble, sized for the weeks when a half cup is a meal.

Julia Prence, MS, RD, LDBy Julia Prence, MS, RD, LD
Prep10 min
Cook15 min
Serves4
EffortEasy
A block of fresh paneer on a wooden board, part of it cut into cubes
Photo: Rajesh Kavasseri on Unsplash

I wrote this one small on purpose.

Bhurji is the Hindi word for a scramble, and the one at a Mumbai street stall is made with eggs. Paneer bhurji is what the stall makes for the vegetarian in the group, spooned into a buttered pav.7 Paneer, onion, tomato, a green chile, turmeric, cumin, cilantro, and it’s done in about a quarter hour, most of that waiting on the onion.

After bariatric surgery, and for a lot of people on a GLP-1, the plate gets smaller while the protein target stays where it was, so whatever fits on the plate has to carry its share.12 Paneer does.5 It’s soft, it takes on whatever it’s cooked with, and crumbled fine it chews about like a firm scrambled egg.

In the weeks after surgery, this is a soft-food-stage dish. Program handouts start that stage around two to three weeks out, and some run it to the two-month mark.34 Programs differ on the dates and the details, and the dates on your surgical team’s sheet are the ones that count. Paneer is a full-fat cheese and those sheets keep fat low early on, so for the first weeks use a teaspoon of ghee and skim milk and plate a quarter cup at a time; the Dietitian’s Note has the numbers.3 Skip the chile and chili powder until your stomach has settled, and chop the tomato fine or peel it if skins bother you.

Buy the block from the refrigerated case rather than the freezer, and crumble it cold, with your fingers, until it looks like coarse cottage cheese. The spoonful of milk at the end is what keeps the paneer from going dry and squeaky in the pan. Serve it on a small plate with a wedge of lime.

Method

  1. 1

    Crumble the paneer. Break the cold paneer apart with your fingers into bits no bigger than a pea, rubbing any firm pieces between your thumbs until the bowl looks like coarse cottage cheese. Set it by the stove.

  2. 2

    Bloom the cumin. Warm the ghee in a medium skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the cumin seeds. They’ll sizzle at once; the moment they smell toasty, move on. If you’re using ground cumin instead, skip the seeds and go straight to the onion.

    Whole cumin seeds up close, ridged and pale brown
    Whole cumin seeds up close, ridged and pale brownPhoto: Pradeep Javedar on Unsplash
  3. 3

    Soften the onion. Add the onion and a pinch of the salt. Cook, stirring now and then, until the pieces turn translucent and give no resistance to the spoon, 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in the ginger and the chile, if using, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

  4. 4

    Cook down the tomato. Add the tomato, turmeric, chili powder, and the rest of the salt, plus the ground cumin if that’s what you’re using. Cook, stirring, until the tomato collapses into a loose jam and the fat pools at the edges, 3 to 4 minutes. If it catches on the pan, add a spoonful of water.

    Chopped tomato, onion and green chile softening in oil in a steel pan
    Chopped tomato, onion and green chile softening in oil in a steel panPhoto: Zoshua Colah on Unsplash
  5. 5

    Fold in the paneer. Turn the heat to low. Add the crumbled paneer and the milk and fold gently, so the crumbles stay soft rather than mashing into a paste. Cook until the paneer is warmed through and the milk has disappeared into it, 2 to 3 minutes. Don’t let it brown or dry out.

  6. 6

    Finish and plate. Take the pan off the heat. Stir in the cilantro and the garam masala, if using, and taste for salt; it’ll likely want another pinch. Spoon about a half cup onto each small plate, a quarter cup in the first weeks after surgery, with a lime wedge alongside. Eat it warm.

215kcalEnergy
12gProtein
1gFiber
17gFat
5gCarbohydrate

Estimated for a quarter of the recipe, about a half cup, from USDA FoodData Central figures for the onion, tomato, milk and ghee and from typical US paneer labels (about 20 grams of protein and 23 grams of fat per 100 grams; published figures for cow-milk paneer run 17 to 24 grams of fat). Built the first-weeks way, with a teaspoon of ghee and skim milk, a half-cup plate is about 200 kcal, 12 g protein, 14 g fat and 5 g carb, and a quarter-cup plate is half that. With a low-fat paneer at 9 grams of fat per 100 grams, the half-cup plate comes to about 120 kcal, 11 g protein and 6 g fat. Paneer varies a lot by brand, so check yours.

Keeps

Let it cool, no more than two hours on the counter, then refrigerate in a lidded container and eat within 3 to 4 days, the window the FDA chart gives cooked dishes.68 Reheat gently in a small pan with a splash of milk or water, stirring until it’s steaming hot all the way through; the microwave works but dries the paneer. I don’t freeze this one. Paneer turns crumbly and the tomato weeps when it thaws.

Swaps

Firm tofu, pressed dry and crumbled, stands in for the paneer if you want it vegan; it’s softer still, and it brings less protein to the plate, so check the label. Canned diced tomatoes, drained, when the fresh ones are pale and hard. A pinch of sweet paprika gives the color of Kashmiri chili without the heat. If your store carries a paneer labeled low-fat, it’s worth the detour in the early weeks; one US label lists 9 grams of fat per 100 grams against the 17 to 24 of regular paneer, which brings a half-cup plate built the first-weeks way to about 6 grams of fat and 11 of protein.59 For anyone else at the table who wants a fuller plate, scramble two eggs into the pan before the paneer goes in, or spoon the bhurji into a toasted roll, which is how the stall serves it.

Sources

  1. Almandoz JP, Wadden TA, Tewksbury C, et al. Nutritional considerations with antiobesity medications. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2024;32(9):1613-1631. doi.org
  2. Mechanick JI, Apovian C, Brethauer S, et al. Clinical practice guidelines for the perioperative nutrition, metabolic, and nonsurgical support of patients undergoing bariatric procedures, 2019 update. Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2020;16(2):175-247. old.asmbs.org
  3. OHSU Health Bariatric Services. After Bariatric Surgery: Your Nutrition Guide. 2021. ohsu.edu
  4. UCSF Health. Dietary Guidelines After Bariatric Surgery. Accessed 2026. ucsfhealth.org
  5. Khan SU, Pal MA. Paneer production: a review. J Food Sci Technol. 2011;48(6):645-660. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  6. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart. Accessed 2026. fda.gov
  7. Singh S. How to make Paneer Bhurji (dry Mumbai street style and the Amritsar gravy style). Kali Mirch by Smita. Accessed 2026. kalimirchbysmita.com
  8. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Are You Storing Food Safely? Accessed 2026. fda.gov
  9. Desi Naturals Low Fat Paneer, nutrition facts label (9 g fat, 18 g protein per 100 g), as recorded on Open Food Facts. Accessed 2026. world.openfoodfacts.org