HOW TO MAKE PANEER/INDIAN CHEESE IN YOUR KITCHEN

HOW TO MAKE PANEER/INDIAN CHEESE IN YOUR KITCHEN
Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Paneer is one of the very important ingredients of many Indian dishes like palak paneer (Spinach and Indian Cheese Curry), rasgulla, shahi paneer etc. Refer to my one of the earlier posts about Palak Paneer ( Spinach and Indian Cheese Curry).

Anything fresh is always preferred for health as well as taste. Although you can buy frozen Paneer from an Indian grocery store, but why to put so much effort if you can prepare fresh paneer in your kitchen. It is very easy to prepare and you don't need any expertise to make it.

Total preparation time: 2-3 hr

INGREDIENTS:

Whole milk-4 cup
White vinegar-3-4 tbsp
Cotton cloth or muslin

METHOD:

Heat the milk in a heavy bottomed vessel on medium heat and keep stirring, otherwise milk will stick to the bottom. When milk starts to boil, reduce the heat and add vinegar slowly and keep stirring. In next 1-2 min, you can see small curds floating on top. Wait till these curds get bigger. Wait for 3-4 min and turn off the heat & let it stand there for 20 min.
After that take a colander which is wrapped with cotton cloth or muslin. Pour all curdled milk in this wrapped colander over your kitchen sink. Collect the curds and discard the whey.
Keep the curds in a cotton cloth, tie a knot and hang it over the sink. Let the whey drip for 1-2 hr. Now open the knot. If any extra whey is there, squeeze it out. Paneer is ready.
Now, knead this paneer into soft dough. Spread it over a cellophane paper. Cover it with another cellophane paper Give it a flat shape by pressing it with a flat heavy container (Keep it a bit thick, say about 1/2 inch). Leave the container over paneer for 1 hour. After that, remove the container and cellophane papers. Cut into desired shapes.