Ever had a desire to make melting in mouth soft and creamy paneer at home. This recipe will make you an expert in making paneer. Paneer is a type of cheese, which is obtained by curdling the milk, using citric acid. It can be lemon juice, orange juice, vinegar or industrial citric acid powder. The homemade paneer is your ideal ingredient for all you paneer recipes.
Paneer
Cook Time 15 minutes
Servings 250 grams
Cost ₹70
Equipment
- Pan
- Seive
Ingredients
- 1 Litre Milk – Any milk will work.
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice – Preferred acid
- 250 grams Ice
Other suitable acids
- 1 tbsp Vinegar
- 5 grams Alum
- 1 tsp Citric Acid
- 3 tbsp Orange Juice
Step by step instructions
- Bring the milk to boil and switch off the flame.
- Add the acid to milk and continue stirring it. It will start separating paneer from milk and a light green color liquid will separate from it. This liquid is called whey.
- The whole process will take about 30 seconds. Once you notice that large chunks of paneer are separated and a clear green water is formed, add ice and cool it down.
- Using a muslin cloth or sieve drain the excess water in another pan. Add about one liter water to paneer and wash with hands. Drain again.
- Now the paneer you have obtained should be drained off excess water.
- tie it in the muslin cloth and keep under some weight for 2 hours. It will squeeze out the excess moisture. Your paneer is ready. You can store in fridge for up to 3 days.
Important
Cooling down paneer once it is separated is a key process to make it soft. If you leave it in the hot whey for a while, it gets cooked and start to become chewy. You can also use cold water instead of ice. Try to use strained lemon juice, so that seeds will not be mixed in paneer.
The type of milk you are using can greatly impact the quality and quantity of paneer you will get. Cow milks produce slightly less quantity and has a bit coarse texture. Buffalo milk produce smoother texture will more yield per liter of milk. Pasteurized vs fresh milk also produces different results.
One thing to keep in mind that you should always avoid stale or old milk to make paneer. Always try to use fresh milk for better results.
The leftover water (whey) has many uses and should not be drained. It has lots of nutrition, fats and health benefits within it. Use it to cook rice or knead dough for chapati. It can also be used for making shikanji. You can keep it it fridge for 4-5 days and use it to make paneer next time instead of lemon juice.
When you make paneer dishes like kadahi paneer or paneer butter masala from homemade paneer, you will notice whole lot of difference in the taste compared with store bought ready-made paneer.
