How to Make Homemade Paneer(Cottage Cheese)

Paneer-Homemade cheese

Fresh cheese, called paneer in Hindi, can be eaten by itself or used as an ingredient in recipes. There is no substitute for paneer. It is unique among cheeses for its versatility, its fine taste, and its resistance to melting at high temperatures.

  Preparation and cooking time: about 30 min

  10 cups (2.3 ltr) whole milk
  5 tablespoon lemon juice, or 2 teaspoon citric acid,
  or 1 1/4 cups (300 ml) yogurt, or 2 1/2 cups (600 ml) sour whey

Heat the milk over medium heat in a pot large enough to allow the milk to rise without overflowing. While waiting for the milk to boil, prepare the curdling agent and get a strainer ready by lining it with two layers of cheesecloth and propping it above a receptacle to collect the whey.

When the milk begins to rise, stir in the curdling agent. Almost immediately, the spongelike paneer will separate from the clear, yellow-green whey with a kind of a magical suddenness. If the whey is not clear, add a little more curdling agent and stir again.

After the curds and the whey have separated completely, remove the pot from the heat. Collect the curds in the cheesecloth. Rinse them under cold water for half a minute to make them firmer and to
remove any excess curdling agent, which would alter the taste. Then press out the rest of the liquid in one of the following ways:

• If you want firm paneer for making cheese cubes or kneading into a dough, bind the paneer within the cheesecloth and press it with a weight for some time. The longer it is pressed, the firmer it will be. Remove the weight, cut the paneer into the desired shapes, and use as required. Paneer will also become firm if you suspend it in a piece of cheesecloth and leave it to drain.

• If you need soft cheese, simply tighten the cheesecloth around the paneer and squeeze out the water.

Some advice concerning the making of paneer

Some people refer to fresh curds as chenna, and pressed chenna as paneer. For the purposes of this book, however, the term paneer will mean fresh curds, and pressed paneer will mean pressed curds. Remember also that the terms cheese, Indian cheese, curds, and paneer all refer to the same thing, paneer. To know approximately how much milk you will need to make specific amounts of yaneer (drained for a few minutes) or pressed paneer (pressed under a weight for ten minutes), see the following table.

Quantity of milk curdled		Yield of paneer		Yield of pressed paneer
cups	liters	oz	g	oz	g
2 1/2	600 ml	4	100	3	75
7	1.7	9	250	7	200
12	3	14	400	12	350

The following are a few of the most commonly used curdling agents and their characteristics.

• Lemon juice. This gives a light, sour taste to cheese. About 1 tablespoon of lemon juice will curdle 2 1/2 cups (600 ml) of milk.

• Citric acid (sour salt). These crystals, obtainable in any pharmacy and most supermarkets, are practical to use and store. For nice, firm curds, bring the milk to a full boil. Begin to add the citric acid, a little at a time, stirring constantly until the milk curdles completely. Then stop and remove the pan from the heat. Too much citric acid will result in mushy curds. About 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid will curdle 2 1/2 cups (600 ml) of milk.

• Yogurt. Some cooks prefer yogurt because it produces a thick, soft cheese. Before adding the yogurt to the boiling milk, dilute it in a small quantity of warm milk. Generally, 4 or 5 tablespoons of yogurt will curdle 2 1/2 cups (600 ml) of milk.

• Whey. Whey left over from curdled milk can be used as a curdling agent the next day. Whey becomes sour, and therefore more effective, if kept at room temperature for 2 days or more. Like lemon juice, it imparts a faintly sour taste to the cheese. At least 2/3 cup (150 ml) of sour whey is required to curdle 2 1/2 cups (600 ml) of milk.