How to make Paneer at home
Created | Updated Oct 14, 2003
Paneer is Indian cottage cheese which is rich in protein. It makes some mouth watering Indian dishes like Paneer Pasanda (a white gravy dish), Palak Paneer (Paneer with spinach), Paneer Biryaani (Paneer with rice), mater paneer (Paneer with peas), Paneer Tikka Masala (a Barbecue dish) etc.
It is also known as Chhena in Bengal where you get some delicious sweet dishes made with paneer like Rasgulla or Rashogulla, Ras malai among others.
Ingredients: For 150 gms of Paneer (approximately)
Full cream dairy milk; 2 Pints, (cow/ buffalo milk is preferred)
Lemon Juice; one table spoon
Take 2 pints of milk, warm it over a medium flame the moment it boils, add a table spoon of lemon juice. Stir it for a while.The curd will separate from whey in about 5-7 minutes. The whey will be greenish with no residue of curd and the curd will look like lumpy white mass. Now drain the whey and retain the curd in a strainer/ sieve/ cheesecloth. Run some cold water on the curd. (The whey, which separates from the curd has some nutrition value and can be used in cooking).
Remove all whey by pressing it with a spoon. Using a clean white cotton/ muslin cloth (cheesecloth) instead a sieve is a good idea! If you use cheesecloth instead sieve, pressing the curd to remove the water is not required. Tie up the curd in the cheesecloth and hang up the bundle so it can drip for 5-6 hours. Now we can refer curd as paneer.
After that, gently flatten the paneer, still wrapped up loosely in the cloth, to make a patty shape. Put it on a plate and put a heavy weight on it. Tilt the plate from one side, so that the whey if there is any can drain off. Leave for 4 or 5 hours. Cut into cubes of desired size.
Please note that paneer unlike other cheese has not been matured and it is rather bland.
If you keep it refrigerated it will last for five to seven days. You can deep freeze it as well for about a month but once defrosted don't freeze it again.
If you would like to try a very simple Paneer dish, follow the link A1118251
It is also known as Chhena in Bengal where you get some delicious sweet dishes made with paneer like Rasgulla or Rashogulla, Ras malai among others.
Ingredients: For 150 gms of Paneer (approximately)
Full cream dairy milk; 2 Pints, (cow/ buffalo milk is preferred)
Lemon Juice; one table spoon
Take 2 pints of milk, warm it over a medium flame the moment it boils, add a table spoon of lemon juice. Stir it for a while.The curd will separate from whey in about 5-7 minutes. The whey will be greenish with no residue of curd and the curd will look like lumpy white mass. Now drain the whey and retain the curd in a strainer/ sieve/ cheesecloth. Run some cold water on the curd. (The whey, which separates from the curd has some nutrition value and can be used in cooking).
Remove all whey by pressing it with a spoon. Using a clean white cotton/ muslin cloth (cheesecloth) instead a sieve is a good idea! If you use cheesecloth instead sieve, pressing the curd to remove the water is not required. Tie up the curd in the cheesecloth and hang up the bundle so it can drip for 5-6 hours. Now we can refer curd as paneer.
After that, gently flatten the paneer, still wrapped up loosely in the cloth, to make a patty shape. Put it on a plate and put a heavy weight on it. Tilt the plate from one side, so that the whey if there is any can drain off. Leave for 4 or 5 hours. Cut into cubes of desired size.
Please note that paneer unlike other cheese has not been matured and it is rather bland.
If you keep it refrigerated it will last for five to seven days. You can deep freeze it as well for about a month but once defrosted don't freeze it again.
If you would like to try a very simple Paneer dish, follow the link A1118251
