Recipe for ‘How to make 100 gms of soft paneer/cottage cheese’
What is Paneer?
Paneer is a common South Asian unaged cheese made by curdling heated milk with food acids like lemon juice, vinegar or citric acid. Paneer is eaten in many ways – in curries, stuffing’s, patties and sweets. Here, I will show you how to make this easy creamy paneer/cheese and how you can add this creamy paneer to make some tasty dishes like Paneer Bhurji (Indian creamy cheese dish), Paneer Bhurji stuffed cannelloni (Indian Fusion dish) which is a must try and a unique bread recipe (using the whey from paneer:)…Let’s start making…first, the paneer/cheese
–>You will be doing: (as shown in video)
– boil milk
– pour lemon juice
– wait for curdling
– strain the curd
– crumb and use
Soft Paneer recipe in detail
(To make 100 gms soft paneer, you will need)
2 1/4 cup milk
1 lemon (big)
cheese cloth / muslin cloth
strainer / colander
Step 1) Heat 2 1/4 cup milk on medium heat
Step 2) While the milk is heating, squeeze 1 lemon and strain the juice to remove the
seeds.
Tip :- while using refrigerated lemon or lemon concentrate – remember to thaw
them in room temperature an hour before making this
Step 3) Once the milk starts boiling reduce the heat to low
Step 4) Slowly pour the lemon juice (and in few seconds the milk starts curdling). Give it a light stir and in 15-20 seconds you will see the cheese forming (sometimes it takes a minute or 2 for the milk to breakdown to cheese state, don’t worry just watch patiently for the milk to curdle:). After a minute, you will be able to see an yellowish green water(which is the whey) separating from the paneer or cheese (Refer the video to see how it looks)
Tip :- But if it still looks milky and leaves no trace of yellowish whey after a
minute, pour an extra tbsp. of lemon juice and wait for 10-15 seconds.
You will see the yellowish whey separating from the cheese.
Once you see the whey, turn off the heat.
Step 5) Strain the paneer/cheese using a cheese cloth/muslin cloth. For this, first wash the cheese cloth and squeeze the excess water and lay the cheese cloth over the strainer and making sure the center of the cheese cloth sits inside the strainer comfortably and place a bowl underneath the strainer to collect the whey. Now pour the paneer/cheese into the cheese cloth and scrape any cheese that sticks to the milk bowl and add to the strained paneer/cheese.
Step 6) Knot the cheese cloth and hang to drain the whey. If the cheese cloth is big enough, the ends of cheese cloth can be used to knot and hang it or you will have to hunt for a rubber band:)
My rubber band hanging method : Bring the sides of the cheese cloth upwards and knot it with a rubber band tightly with 2 or 3 knots and squeeze out the whey from paneer/cheese and hang it on to your kitchen tap making sure the whey drips into the kitchen sink (and the body of cheese cloth is not in contact with the tap or sink area) and attend to it after 10 minutes
Tip:- You can use the (yellowish) whey to make breads or add to soup.
Usually, I discard it but after reading some health benefits of whey
I decided to do something with it. I searched how to use the whey and
there were so many options like add to soups, to bread, to muffins
etc… So, I decided to make a bread using this whey. It’s so simple…just
add the whey in place of water:) but it’s a totally unique healthy bread
recipe…so check it:)(link)
After 10 minutes get back to save our hanging paneer/cheese. Squeeze the cheese till it screams ‘NO MORE WHEY let me out you idiot:)
ok now hurry to step 7) Untie the rubber band and free the paneer:)
Step 8) say ‘sorry’ to paneer by gently softening…the paneer will forgive you once you finish softening completely:)…I finished softening the cheese and the cheese smiled at me and said ‘you can add me to salads, snacks, fries or link the kofta pasta recipe for the viewers so that they will know I am part of it. bye’:)
ok here is the link for ‘Kofta Pasta recipe’ as ordered by the soft paneer:)
click -> https://www.c4cooking.com/kofta-pasta-recipe/
You can refrigerate the soft paneer for up to 2-3 weeks.
You can make lots of delicious dishes with this soft paneer/cheese.
Have a look at some of them
-> Paneer Bhurji (creamy Indian cheese dish)
-> Paneer Bhurji stuffed cannelloni ( Indian Fusion dish)
-> Kofta pasta (another yummy Indian-Italian Fusion dish)
-> Bread using the whey ( unique healthy bread recipe)
FAQs: (Frequently Asked Questions) for ‘Soft Paneer /cottage cheese crumbs’ ****************************************************************************************
*Can I use lemon concentrate instead of fresh lemon?
Yes, you are free to use the lemon concentrate but make sure to thaw the
refrigerated lemon/lemon concentrate in room temperature an hour before making the paneer/cheese
*Can I use slim/low fat milk?
Usually the paneer/cheese is made with standard/full fat milk for soft, creamier and higher cheese yield. Yes, you can also use slim/lowfat milk but the cheese will be drier and yield will be lower(according to the cheese-making experts! I’m not an expert:)
*Tell me some recipes using ‘Soft Paneer’/cottage cheese crumbs?
Soft Paneer can be added to salads, sweets and stuffings. Here are some tasty recipes
using ‘Soft Paneer'(click them to see the recipes in detail)
Paneer Bhurji (Creamy Indian cheese dish)
Paneer Bhurji stuffed Cannelloni (Indian Fusion dish)
Kofta Pasta (another tasty Indian-Italian fusion dish)
Bread from whey(Healthy wholemeal, golden raisin and pine nuts bread using the
whey)
*I don’t have a cheese cloth/muslin cloth…anything else that can be used as a cheese cloth?
Yes…a new men’s UNUSED handkerchief will do:)…read again ‘UNUSED’…I am using the same:)…now after drying it, keep it in a place where it won’t be mistaken for a handkerchief:)
*Well, I faced a problem that is not mentioned in the FAQs?
If you face any situation that I didn’t come across, then congratulations to you for the new situation:) … tell me how u fixed it or ask me how to fix it by commenting below:)
I value your feedback…simply write to me or rate the recipe:)
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Remember to check these recipes that can be made with soft paneer :
Paneer Bhurji Paneer Bhurji Kofta Pasta
Cannelloni Pasta
