Let's learn how to make fresh homemade paneer with 2 ingredients and no preservatives or additives. I always make paneer at home honestly I do not even remember the last time that I bought paneer from grocery store.
What is paneer?
Paneer is Indian cottage cheese and is freshly made by adding critic base liquid to milk and bringing it to curdle. Then curdle milk is strain and you get firm block of Indian cottage cheese a.k.a paneer.
You can make variety of tasty dishes from paneer- ranging from paneer curries (such as palak paneer, butter paneer, paneer paratha) to crispy pakoras
Important tips
For creamy paneer use full fat milk. I do not recommend 2% or 1% milk to make paneer
Do not continue to boil milk once it is curdle completely. Immediately strain or else it will yield hard and crumbly cheese
Paneer can be stored in fridge for 2 days in airtight container
You can use lemon, vinegar, sour curd or buttermilk as your source of acid to make paneer. For this recipe I have used lemon.
Collected whey water from paneer can be used in making curries, dal or roti dough. This whey is very nutritious so do not throw it away. You can refrigerate and store this liquid in jar for 2 to 3 days
INGREDIENTS
6 cups full fat milk
4 tsp lemon juice
INSTRUCTIONS
Take a pan or a bowl. Place a strainer on the bowl and line strainer with muslin or cotton cloth.
In a heavy duty pot add milk and begin to heat the milk on a medium low heat
Keep stirring milk so it do get burnt from the bottom.
Meanwhile cut lemon and get lemon juice
When the milk starts boiling, add lemon juice and begin to stir. Let milk curdle completely.
If milk does not curdle then you can add 1 or 2 tsp of more lemon juice
After milk is completely curdled you will see greenish color liquid. At this point switch of the flame and immediately strain the milk. Add 1 to 2 cups of cold water to paneer. This will help remove any remaining taste of lemon. Strain out all water from the paneer
Tightly secure the ends of the cloth to keep paneer wrapped, then place the wrapped paneer in a plate or a bowl. Keep heavy object (weighing around a pound) on paneer to strain out whey completely. Let it sit for about 30 minutes
After 30 minutes of pressing paneer is ready. Remove the weight and open the cloth. Homemade paneer is ready for use
Comments