Paneer Making Made Easier

Paneer is an indian cottage cheese which is very tasty when made properly ( could be very bland if not made properly ) and is used in a large number of dishes - and for making russogollas ( a bengali sweet ). Here is how to make it: Dissolve about 1
teaspoon of citric acid crystals in one 250 ml glass of water and add this water to one litre of 3% fat milk.( uht milk wont work, and nor will pure buffalo milk; and if you use whole milk the fat will just go away with the whey ). Heat this milk slowly till it starts to split and when most of it has split, turn off the heat and allow the coagulated milk to settle.. The coagulated milk is the paneer and
the remaining water is the whey ( some people use the whey to make buttermilk, or in making dough for their bread/ chapati/ biscuits ). Then filter out the whey through a seive ( such as a large tea strainer, i dont like to use a cloth ), add some weight to ensure that the whey is fully expelled.. this might take about one hour .. Eject the paneer onto a plate, cut into peices and
EAT !
Note : it is not necessary to fully boil the milk, and in fact if you do, then all the fat will melt and go away with the whey and result in rubbery paneer. uht milk wont split .. and even if it does it will be unsatisfactory; lime will leave a limey smell and taste which may
not always be acceptable.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• paneer
• making
• indian
• cottage
• cheese
• food
• method
• recipe

[alaivani]

Forgot to say, another idea to use the left over paneer water is for making rice pullau. This water makes the rice soft, fluffy and creamy.

[oldernwiser0]

i haven't tried that idea so far, and will try it out some day... but one more good use for whey is to use it for making the dough for bread / rotis .. the rotis come out soft which is the way some people like it :-)

[alaivani]

Fantastic! You have given me some new ideas. I make paneer the opposite way- boil milk and add vinegar and also drain it slightly differently. You use less kitchen utensils than I do! That makes it a 'greener' paneer :)

[oldernwiser0]

thanks ! and yes, one of the things i consciously do is to work out methods which does not add to the cycle of increased number of vessels leading to more washing, leading to more detergents and water usage and more scrubbers and more wear and tear of utensils and hands, more time in the kitchen and more clutter and and and ! :-)

[trupkar]

You have the best tips! Thanks so much.

[oldernwiser0]

i'm glad you found my tips useful.. thanks for commenting ,,:)

[kamalna]

what is the mechanism behind this?

[singingmaya]

@oldernwiser0

This is a beautiful video, simple and fast compared to others (Ha! Men, just do it!) - so thank you! The only question I have is that other videos are showing water being ran onto the cheese before it's compacted, in order to remove the acidity. Do you have any problem with that, or is the acidic taste that remains when unflushed part of the paneer taste? Thank you again :D

[farhanakhan72]

i like this vedio

[nehamitra1]

can we use anything else instead of citric acid?if yes, in what quantity?can you please tell the quantity of milk in terms of cup..........thanks