Paneer Recipe

Can old recipes survive the tumults of our new life or better start with a fresh book? Let’s make paneer to explore the possibilities!

Swapping habits is as much pain in life as swapping ingredients in well devised recipes. Leaving out an ingredient, that at first seem unimportant, could turn the whole dish into something that would even make a salted cardboard more enticing.

Change or not to change?

Worst of all, the disappointment is exponentially related with our expectations, especially when we have already had ideas about what we were looking for. It can take years to adopt to a new ingredient in recipe with roots back to our childhood.

When something is brand new, be those habits or recipes, things are much more elastic. We can shape them to our liking to fit for our needs without the shackles of our past.

This is the reason it’s much easier to jump into never-before-seen recipes when changing lifestyle and creating them to the requirement of our new needs, rather than constantly fight the disappointment that our old recipes would cause in our new world.

What’s in the name?

Having, for example, sugar free or keto, snapped to every food we make, won’t be much help cajoling our mind to pursue our lifestyle choices. If something, it will train us to loath anything with those words around any recipe because none of them will be as we used the like them.

Unfortunately, though, we are quite bad at remembering new names, especially if we haven’t had any experience with them. Having seen weird names of food on the web, will be less likely to make us cook it without at least seeing it, let alone search for it.

Recipes need time to seep into our minds and even more times to develop proper names in the collective knowledge. Many times, it goes astray (we are looking at you Bolognese sauce, not to mention the Monkey bread) but a bad name is a name, at least that we can refer to without starting an essay about it.

What is paneer?

Paneer’s origin is still a question of debate but as paneer it originates from India where it’s been made for centuries.

Paneer is a fresh cheese made by adding acid to hot milk. Once the curd separates from the whey, it is strained and pressed. The method is very similar to other cheese making processes like cottage cheese, farmers cheese, quark, queso blanco, queso fresco or another less known fresh cheese making process.

What does paneer need?

It is likely the easiest and quickest method, as it doesn’t require any special ingredient or treatment of the milk before processing it with acid into the end product.

Pressing the paneer for shorter or longer period of time results a fluffier or denser produce that can be used in recipes accordingly.

Those, who grew up around an Indian kitchen, don’t need to explain what paneer can do, but for those whom Indian food means having a burger with a naan bread at McDonald’s, the possibilities of paneer will probably fall as flat as our weighed down cheese curd.

What to use paneer for?

The rest of us who have already heard about cottage cheese or similar produce and know that it isn’t just for body builder’s breakfast or already initiated with a paneer tikka masala, there is no need to explain the possibilities.

Paneer is used as a protein source in dishes, complementing or completely substituting meat. Thanks the centuries of traditions, Indians had time finding the best spices and herbs that go with paneer, so we never have the feeling of having a dish that’s missing a crucial ingredient because everything is done.

Ingredients

• 8 cups / 2000ml Milk
• 6 tablespoons / 80ml Lemon juice or vinegar

How to make paneer

1. Over medium heat bring milk to boil. Keeping the lid on will speed up the process but don’t forget to stir the milk every now and again.
2. Pour the lemon juice or vinegar into the hot milk and stir. The milk should curd immediately. If not, just add a bit more lemon juice / vinegar.
3. Strain the curd from the whey, use a cheesecloth or a simple kitchen cloth and a colander or sieve. Rinse the curd with cold water to remove traces of lemon juice or vinegar and quicken the firming of the curd.
4. Twist the cheesecloth and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
5. Shape the curd into a disc or any desired shape.
6. With the cheesecloth still on, weight it down for a couple of hours. If there is enough space in the fridge, set the whole thing there until cooled off completely. Once the paneer is chilled, it’s ready to be used.

Enjoy!

Note: Whey doesn’t need to be discarded. It can be used as a milk substitute in recipes. Keep it in the fridge and use it as necessary.

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