I blog here about my cheese-making escapades from time to time, but I don’t often post recipes. That’s because making cheese, while not always difficult, usually requires special ingredients that are only available by mail-order.
There are, however, a few fresh cheeses that you can make at home using things you already have. Yogurt cheese is perhaps the easiest, but it won’t be satisfying if you’re curious to see how milk transforms into cheese, because you make it simply by draining yogurt in a cheesecloth until it becomes thick and spreadable.
But panir (or paneer) is dead easy, and gives you the magic of watching curds form out of milk. It was the first cheese I ever made from scratch, and I was entranced by how liquid milk could suddenly turn solid. (That’s half the reason I keep making cheese, honestly: it’s magic.) Panir is a fresh Indian cheese with a mild (but tasty) flavor, and you’ve probably encountered it in Indian restaurants. It doesn’t melt. You can make it hard or soft, but if you want to use it in Indian-style dishes, you’ll want it solid enough that you can cube it and it’ll hold together.
You already have everything you need to make panir. The only “specialized” equipment is a finely-woven cheese cloth (called butter muslin), but you can use a clean, thin kitchen towel if need be.
It takes just a few minutes to make the curds, and a couple hours to drain. Then you can use it to make palak panir, like I did, or any number of other dishes. (No recipe for the palak panir, sadly, because I made it at the end of a very long day, and I don’t remember clearly how much I used of anything. I’ll figure it out and share it with you, I promise.)
Note that you can double this recipe; mine made enough for 4 servings or more. You can store it in the fridge for a few days, but not longer than that.
Fresh Panir
- 1/2 gallon of milk (whole or skim, but whole will give you a better yield and flavor)
- 1/4 cup vinegar or lemon juice
In a large pot on the stove, bring the milk gently to a boil. Stir occasionally so the bottom doesn’t burn.
Once it boils, remove the milk from the heat and drizzle the lemon or vinegar over the surface. Stir well. You should almost immediately see the milk separate, forming thick curds and thin, yellowish whey.
Let the curds sit about 5 minutes to let the vinegar do its work. Put a colander in the sink and line it with your cheesecloth or towel, and carefully empty the pot into the colander (don’t lose any curds!).
Give the curds a good rinse with water to get rid of any lingering lemon or vinegar flavor. Then form them into a patty, wrap it in the cheesecloth, and put a weight on top of it to help it drain. A large can works great for this; so does a bowl of water.
Let it drain for a couple hours, then unwrap it and it’s ready to eat! Or, you can store it in the fridge for a couple days.
2 Comments
i’ve made paneer a lot, and it’s tasty, but i’ve never managed to make it smooth like it is when you get it at a restaurant– it always stays kind of crumbly. ever run up against that/ have any ideas? i pretty much do it the way you just described.
Good question. My panir came out nice and firm this time, but it’s not terribly consistent. What kind of milk do you use? Whole milk generally makes creamier, less crumbly cheese (and, maybe not coincidentally, is what I used this time). I’d definitely try using whole milk. Beyond that, make sure you’re wrapping it tightly when you press it, and maybe try a heavier weight? Let me know if you find something that works!