HOME-MADE PANEER

Paneer is the most common cheese used in India. It is an unaged, acid-set, non-melting cheese made by curdling heated milk with lemon juice or vinegar.The former is added when one has to make a sweet paneer dish and the latter is added when making a savory dish.
Like most of the Indians i also prefer to make paneer at home.Its very easy to make ,just follow some simple steps so if have lots of milk leftover and is few days away from its expiry date then this is the best way to get rid of it.

INGREDIENTS

Milk - 8-10 cups(preferably whole milk or 2 %)

Vinegar or lime juice or yogurt - 1 tbsp

muslin cloth

METHOD

In a vessel pour the milk and bring it to a boil.When it starts to boil reduce the flame and add the vinegar.This will enable the curds to separate from the whey.Let it boil till the whey turns pale green in color.Switch off the stove and let it cool a little before handling it.Ones it cools discard the whey using a strainer.Wash the curd under a running tap to get rid of the sour vinegar smell. To remove the remaining excess water from the curd pour it onto a 2-4 layer muslin/cheese cloth.Bring the 4 corners of the cloth together and gently twist it as much as u can to squeeze out the liquid and keep it under a heavy weight for 3-4 hrs as shown in the photo below.This will produce a very firm paneer.For a more softer version reduce the time to half an hr or so.The softer ones can be turned into a dough and used to make rossogulla and rasmalai which i will post some other day.

Cut the pressed paneer into cubes and use it in curries.