- Prep Time: 3h 30 min
- Serving: Serves more than 10
Homemade Paneer
Making your own cheese from home? Thanks to Helene from Super Kitchen Machine you can do this! Perfect to include in the Palak Paneer curry!
"Traditionally made with buffalo milk in India, paneer is perhaps the world’s most basic fresh cheese, rendered simply by adding acid to unpasteurized milk so it coagulates, straining the curds from the whey, and pressing the curd. Ta da! To be a little more specific: whole cow’s, sheep or goat’s milk that has not been ultra pasteurized, plus lemon juice, lime juice or vinegar, a bit of cheese-bag or cloth, a stone, brick or heavy book… and just a few minutes. The result is much like tofu — a bland and slightly chewy semi-hard pressed cheese that takes on other flavours well. This paneer cheese recipe easily lends itself to experimenting with — just add seasonings to suit your tastes. There is absolutely nothing about making paneer that is difficult — unless you call one minute of gentle stirring a difficult thing! The other thing to note when making paneer is watching the milk to ‘catch’ it at the right time. Even though it is not recommended to boil milk in your thermomixer, I have found that by heating it to just 100°C and immediately turning it off, causes no problem. With just a bit of awareness, milk will not boil over, nor will it stick to the bottom of the jug. A mere ‘skin’ of milk may form on the bottom, but it’s easily cleaned up. All in all, it takes about 10 minutes to make paneer, and 1-3 hours to wait for it to compress if you so desire. It tastes healthy and fresh and home-made paneer rewards all who make it with a bright burst of self esteem. You can make on a whim it in the afternoon, for use in tonight’s dinner!" - Helene
No: Gluten / Egg / Nuts
Contains: Dairy
Preparation Time Up to 3.5 hours
Best refrigerated
Ingredients
- milk - 1.5 – 2 litres (full fat cow or goat milk is best)
- lemon juice - 40 – 75g (start with about one lemon, or half the measuring cap), alternatively use lime juice or vinegar
- SPICED SEASONINGS OPTION:
- chilli flakes - 1 tsp
- fresh coriander - handful, chopped (*or spices, cumin seeds, herbs etc.)
- LEMON ZEST OPTION:
- lemon - zest (use the zest of the lemon that you are juicing for acid)
Method
- Add whisk attachment to the bowl.
- Place milk (1.5-2L) into bowl and heat to just boiling point. 1.5L of refrigerated milk takes about 14 minutes / 100C / Speed 2, 2L will need about 18 minutes / 100C / Speed 2. Watch temperature lights and stop the machine as soon as the 100C stops blinking.
- If making spiced paneer: add spiced seasoning at this time.
- Stir without heat 1 minute / Speed 2, so flavours are infused. If making plain paneer, or lemon paneer, skip to next step.
- Program the machine to stir for 1 minute / Speed 1 as you pour the lemon juice (40-75g) through the hole in the lid. Peek in to see the milk solids separate from the whey. If separation does not occur, simply add a bit more lemon juice.
- If making lemon paneer, add lemon zest at this time. Stir Speed 1 / 4 seconds. If making plain paneer, skip to next step.
- Pour milky contents of the bowl through a nut milk bag or your choice of strainer. Allow to hang for 10-15 minutes to strain the curds from the whey. Do this over a large pot if you are planning to retain the whey for later use (see note below).
- Squeeze out remaining liquid by hand. Please be careful it is not too hot to touch at this point. It is now a crumbly fresh cheese that can be used like cottage cheese or ricotta.
- To form the cheese, place in a flat bowl or plate with an edge and wrap it in a fresh cheesecloth or clean kitchen towel. Press with a heavy weight for 1-3 hours. Paneer becomes less crumbly from this weighting process, and by refrigeration.
- After about an hour, usually transfer to the fridge while maintaining pressure for another hour or two.
