Paneer recipe

[cissalj]

I am not making any particular claims for authenticity here...

Half gallon (2 quarts, 8 cups) milk- NOT ultrapasterized, and whole or 2% preferre
4 tablespoons lemon juice

Cheesecloth
strainer/colander

Heat milk to boiling slowly, stirring to prevent it scorching.

Once it's boiling, add lemon juice. Turn heat way down. Stir slowly and carefully, to not break up curs, until the milk has separated into large curds and greenish whey. Turn off heat.

Line strainer with 4 layers of cheesecloth. Pour separated milk in.

Rinse curds with cold water till it runs pretty clear.

Tie opposite corners of cheesecloth together, and loop this over the faucet. Drain 1.5 hours. Compact the curds into a circular form (still in cheesecloith). Put them on a flat plate and put a heavy weight on them, and compact them for 0.5-2 hours. Cut into squares and refrigerate if not using immediately- they're supposed to keep OK for 4 days.

Notes: I'd add a bit of salt to the milk; without that, the results are prety bland.

Comments

[mooseloon.livejournal.com]

About how much does this make? I'd be tempted to try it with half the recipe.

And thanks for posting :)

[cissa.livejournal.com]

Dunno exactly. Maybe a scant quart of cheese (like, 2-3 cups)? A lot depends on how aggressively one drains and compresses it. I was pretty aggressive, since I was using the cheese in a recipe.

[dangerdean.livejournal.com]

I did this once, and I agree with you about the salt, but paneer is a pretty bland cheese as it is.

[cissa.livejournal.com]

It is supposed to be bland, really- it's sort of the Indian analog to tofu, I think- meaning it adds protein and texture and soaks up the other flavors of the dish. But I think a wee bit of slat wouldn't hurt that, and I think the time I made it before a bit was added; I'll have to look at that recipe again.