For
those who don’t know, paneer is an Indian cheese, where the milk is coagulated
by adding a food acid. It is not a fermented product like other cheeses. The
coagulated milk is collected in a muslin and allowed to be hung or pressed with
a heavy weight. After cooling you get a block of paneer/cottage cheese which
can be used for making a variety of dishes. Unlike many cheeses in the world,
the making of paneer does not involve rennet as the coagulation agent thus making
it completely vegetarian and providing one of the sources of proteins for
vegetarians in India.
Paneer
is generally unsalted, but you can make it with different flavors like masala
paneer or herbed paneer. All of them are delicious.
It
is called for in many Indian recipes and sometimes, may not be available at
your supermarket. It can be stored in fridge for up to 1 week.
Not
all Indian dishes require paneer to make into solid blocks. Stuffed Paneer
Naans for example require cheese to be loose.
There
are many Bengali sweets like rasgulla, rasmalai and cham cham, in which store
bought paneer cannot be used, as it is very hard/firm and we required chenna
for Bengali sweets.
So
if you plan to make any kind to recipe requiring paneer or chenna, try this recipe
at home. I am sure you will be happy to eat this really soft, fresh and porous
paneer to your recipe. This medhod of making paneer is quick and within 30
minutes you have a good block of paneer ready. I don’t hang the paneer at all.
After draining the whey, just keep the weight on the paneer and it all sets
after 30-40 minutes. There you go, your homemade paneer is ready.
Homemade paneer
recipe below:
Prep
time
|
Cook
time
|
Total
|
30 min
|
10 min
|
40 min
|
How
to make paneer at home and some notes
AUTHOR:
Monali
RECIPE
TYPE: Cooking tips
CUISINE:
World
SERVES: 1
small block of paneer, approx. 200 gm
INGREDIENTS
(measuring cup used, 1 cup=237 ml)
- 1 liter whole milk/full cream milk
- 3-4 tbsp of an acid – lemon juice is used in this recipe (You can substitute it with lime juice, vinegar or citric acid)
Step by step method
of how to make paneer:
- Boil the
milk in a deep pan and keep on stirring so that it do not stick to the bottom
of the pan.
- Once the
milk starts to boil turn off the heat.
- Add
lemon juice or vinegar to it. 5 ml at a time, stirring the milk after each
addition until milk separates.
- Within
few minutes, the milk will curdle and you can see watery whey below.
- As soon
as this happens, add cold water or ice cubes into it. The paneer will instantly
separate from water and will start to float at the surface of the pan.
- Now
sieve the chenna with a muslin cloth.
- Rinse it with fresh water.
- Squeeze
the cloth with hands to strain any excess water from paneer.
- At this stage it
is called as chenna, which is used to make Bengali sweets.
- The more
you squeeze, the firmer the resulting paneer shall be. Fold the muslin cloth in square or rectangle.
- Place something flat like a cutting board on top of the
paneer. This will help to force out more moisture and shape it into a firmer
block, suitable for slicing and frying.
- After
30-40 minutes, the paneer block is ready to be used. Cut them in your desired shape.
NOTES
- The more fat content in the milk, the better output. Paneer made from high fat content milk will be tastier. The natural cream present in the milk, makes the paneer soft.
- Zero fat or skim milk does not work out well with this method.
- You may require 15 ml or more acid before the curds separate from the whey.
- Do not use old or spoiled milk to prepare the paneer.
- Once you add the lemon juice or vinegar then the milk will start to curdle. Wait until the milk is completely curdled. You should be able to see whitish or greenish whey.
- Once the milk coagulates/curdles completely, immediately strain the milk.
- The overcooking will yield hard paneer once set.
- You can store the paneer in an airtight container for a week. Soak the paneer in warm water after you have removed it from the fridge.
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