I thought it would be fitting to inaugurate our Blog with our hands down favorite Indian food - paneer. Paneer is the most widely used cheese in the Indian cuisine and is a major ingredient of several popular Indian meals and desserts.
There is nothing like home made paneer- it’s really tender, fresh and so much better than the store bought variety. And hey - you can save yourself a trip to the local Indian grocery store!!
Ingredients:
1 gal vitamin D, whole milk (I go for the rBST/growth hormone free variety)
½ cup distilled white vinegar or lemon/lime juice
cheesecloth
Directions:
Biochemistry 101: low pH + heat = protein precipitation (milk coagualtion)
1. Bring the milk to a rolling boil in a heavy non-stick pot.
2. Turn the heat off and slowly start adding the vinegar/limejuice, stirring constantly.
3. Paneer slowly curdles out, leaving the whey off-colored and transluscent.
4. Let it stand for about 10 minutes. Drain off the whey and collect the paneer in a cheesecloth of appropriate size.
5. Try to squeeze off any remaining whey from the paneer. I sometimes weight it down for a few hours to make it firm. While doing this your may mold it into a block. Remove from the cheesecloth and refrigerate or freeze, based on your needs.
Notes:
I remember the first time I tried this, I added the vinegar too soon and essentially ended up in plenty whey and hardly any paneer. So definitely, you have to let the milk boil nicely. Low fat milk is an absolute no-no. Paneer is essentially protein + fat, so you don’t want to go the low fat way here.
There is nothing like home made paneer- it’s really tender, fresh and so much better than the store bought variety. And hey - you can save yourself a trip to the local Indian grocery store!!
Ingredients:
1 gal vitamin D, whole milk (I go for the rBST/growth hormone free variety)
½ cup distilled white vinegar or lemon/lime juice
cheesecloth
Directions:
Biochemistry 101: low pH + heat = protein precipitation (milk coagualtion)
1. Bring the milk to a rolling boil in a heavy non-stick pot.
2. Turn the heat off and slowly start adding the vinegar/limejuice, stirring constantly.
3. Paneer slowly curdles out, leaving the whey off-colored and transluscent.
4. Let it stand for about 10 minutes. Drain off the whey and collect the paneer in a cheesecloth of appropriate size.
5. Try to squeeze off any remaining whey from the paneer. I sometimes weight it down for a few hours to make it firm. While doing this your may mold it into a block. Remove from the cheesecloth and refrigerate or freeze, based on your needs.
Notes:
I remember the first time I tried this, I added the vinegar too soon and essentially ended up in plenty whey and hardly any paneer. So definitely, you have to let the milk boil nicely. Low fat milk is an absolute no-no. Paneer is essentially protein + fat, so you don’t want to go the low fat way here.
