Paneer: What I Have Learned !

[Inderjeet Kaur]

Thank you very much for the extra instructions. I'll try it your way next time.

Just two questions, if you wouldn't mind, please:

1. do you rinse the curds?
2. after draining the curds through the cheesecloth, do you twist it up to squeeze some water out of it before shaping it into a block.

Many thanks.

1. No, but I see no reason not to, if you really want to. Unless...maybe the reason this method works is that the curds are weighted and shaped while still hot. I really don't know.

2. No, just draining removes most of the unnecessary whey and the weight on top of it will squeeze out any remaining. I guess I forgot to mention that the plate you place the paneer on under the weight needs to have sides high enough to catch this liquid. It really isn't much, though.

A thought: might paneer get crumbly because too much liquid is squeezed out? Oh, the things I never thought of. I never squeezed because it was hot, but not squeezing might be one of the answers.

 

[Ishna]

Okay! *cracks fingers* Take two coming up...

Okay, so I prepared my muslin and strainer, then mixed 1 tablespoon of white vinegar (the kind I clean my bathroom with LOL) and 1 tablespoon of water in a little cup. I also made the same preparation in another cup in case I needed more. I had 1 Litre of fresh, 4% fat milk. I'll tell you how much paneer it makes when I'm done.

I brought the milk to just before a boil, which was when the milk looked very airy right across the top and when I stared at it I could see a bit of movement in it, not bubbling but just a generalised movement of the milk in the pot.

Then I turned the heat right down and added 1 water/vinegar preparation slowly, stirring all the while. The curds and whey separated, I turned the heat off and stirred for a little longer, and the whey was green and watery and the curds nice and white. I emptied it into my muslin and held it in the air for a while letting the whey drain off. All up this whole process took about 60 seconds.

Then I put the muslin and curds on a plate, gently nudged it into something resembling a square, and folded the muslin around it as tightly as I could. Then I put another pot with water in it on top of the muslin.

I had intended to use the whey as the weight in the pot but I felt the bottom of the pot was far too hot to put on top of the curds so I used cold water instead.

I'm concerned about two things now.

1. There isn't any liquid coming out of my paneer and it's been 30 minutes. Maybe I don't have enough weight on it. Maybe I have too many layers of muslin because it's all folded up.
2. Some sites say to 'knead' the paneer so it forms a denser block. I didn't do that, I hardly touched the curds at all, just gently 'formed a block' and wrapped it up. I worry it'll be crumbly because it's not formed right.

It's really hard not to go open it up and check and poke and prod at it.

Home lab is awesome fun!

 

[Ishna]

Auntie Inderjeet Ji

You are a legend. The Queen of Paneer. Your instructions were SPOT ON!!!!

I had it under the weight for 1.5 hours and no water came out, but when I unwrapped it it looked well formed (my weight wasn't even, it's lop sided but that doesn't matter!).

See the block here. http://s5.postimg.org/vrvx94u1j/Paneer2_20130928.jpg

Then I cut it up and it didn't crumble, not one little tiny bit, and was nice and smooth inside.

See the pieces here. http://s5.postimg.org/p05i6a51z/Paneer1_20130928.jpg

And then I ate one, and it had that perfect balance of firmness and smoothness and you're right, you can't taste that little bit of vinegar AT ALL!

Additionally, my 1 litre of 4% fat milk gave me a yield of 144 grams of paneer, or a generous 1 cup of cubes.

Thank you Inderjeet ji!!!

 

[Inderjeet Kaur]

Thank you. I usually put the whey in a removable slow cooker pot. It's the right size and weight and also works well for storing the whey if I don't use it right away. That's the way I have always made it and it always seems to come out fine. Except that one time my husband "helped " me and dumped in so much vinegar that it was so rubbery as to be inedible...I suppose we could have used it as chewing gum.

:gingerteakaur:

And doesn't it taste a lot better than that stuff from the store? A whole lot cheaper, too.

 

[Ishna]

What do you use the whey for?

Awe, it's cute when husbands try to help

I've never bought it from the store, I've just eaten it in restaurants and at Gurdwara Sahib. But it does taste remarkable, very fresh. Thanks again

 

[Inderjeet Kaur]

What do you use the whey for?

Awe, it's cute when husbands try to help

I've never bought it from the store, I've just eaten it in restaurants and at Gurdwara Sahib. But it does taste remarkable, very fresh. Thanks again

I use the whey in cooking just about anywhere I need liquid. With paneer, I often use it in mattar paneer sauce or as liquid when cooking rice. It's supposed to have protein and, I imagine, other nutrients from the milk. It'd be a shame to just toss it. Use your imagination.

 

[Ishna]

Does it have a taste? It looks.. um.. kinda icky. You know what, I'll Google it.

 

[Inderjeet Kaur]

Does it have a taste? It looks.. um.. kinda icky. You know what, I'll Google it.

It's pretty tasteless. Honest, though, it's hood in sauces and rice and I have also used it as a soup base. It looks kind of icky, but it's not hard to disguise. I just hate throwing away nutritious food.

 

[Inderjeet Kaur]

Here it is! Make ricotta cheese. I love fresh ricotta cheese and detest that stuff you buy at the supermarket. Of course, after making the ricotta, you'll still-have some whey.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Great-Ricotta-Cheese-From-Whey/

 

[spnadmin]

Traditionally ricotta - which means twice cooked - is made from the whey of a first cheese. Reheat the whey to under boling - 200 *, and add more vinegar (like a teaspoon per gallon). Little clumps of cheese will float on the surface of the liquid. Drain that off into cheese cloth until the mix is solid but moist.