how do you make "paneer" or "cottage chesse" at home?

Question

i have lost the recipes of it!....all i remember is you put vinegar or loemon in yogurt or milk...and then hang it in a muslin clotrh...i dont remember the quantities....need a TRYED recipe! thanks!

Answer 1

Hey tabu, making Paneer is really simple. I use eight cups of whole milk...we get the stuff fresh from the farmer and it still has the cream sitting on top..(which we take offand make butter) But the stuff from the store will be just fine.

So you'll need this: 6 tbls plain yogurt, 4tbls lemon juice, (whisk those two together) lots of milk, & cheesecloth.

Put your 8 cups of milk in a big pot..and heat just until the foam starts to rise..then turn off the heat and gently stir in the yogurt/lemon mixture. You wont have to do much stirring and it should start to seperate in seconds.
Now you'll have big clumps of "cheese" floating around in lots of whey. Btw, You can keep the whey, just keep it refrigerated and use it in your indian paneer dishes..it gives great flavor.

Now take your cheesecloth and use a piece about 14 or 16 inches square.. you should double or triple it..so that no cheese squirts through the holes when you are squeezing the water out of it. Wet the cheesecloth too, before you set it stretched out in your strainer, so the cheesecloth doesnt slip from the slides of the strainer when you pour in the contents of your pot.

Dump it in!..wait until it cools just enough so that your still able to handle it.. It should still be quite warm, even hot. Then, start twisting the top of the cheesecloth squeezing all the water out. When you think you've got all the water out.. Squeeze it again. Squeeze the hell out of it. When you've done that, put the cheese that you have made (leave it inside the cheesecloth), between the flat surface of two plates..so that each side of the paneer is touching one side of a plate..Then place a heavy pot/pan..cast iron is best (just for weights sake) on top of the plates and set it aside for about four hours.
Check it every so often to see if any more water has come out.. if so, just drain it from the plate..and keep pressing the cheese. When its done, just take off the cheesecloth, and refrigerate it in saran wrap until youre ready to cut it into pieces and eat it up! If youre not planning on eating it within 3 or 4 days freeze it.

Answer 2

1 Litre Milk
2 teaspoons lemon juice

boil together till milk curdles. Then drain through muslin cloth and tie up for a few hours to take shape, cut into pieces. paneer ready.

Answer 3

Paneer and cottage cheese are not the same. Cottage cheese is curdled enzymatically, with rennet, rather than with acid. That said, I'm afraid I've never made the acid-curdled kind, so I can't help you.

Answer 4

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/Cheese.html