Paneer Homemade - Indian Cheese

RECIPE

Paneer Homemade 

Indian Cheese

Prep Time:  5 minutes

Cook Time: 20  minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 8 people

Author: Lyndi

I promise you this is an EASY and oh so yummy Homemade Paneer recipe aka Indian Cheese. 

I was first introduced to Paneer (Indian Cheese) when Dhruv and I were dating and I convinced him to go to an Indian restaurant in the USA. He helped me order Saag Paneer, a dish we make quite often and a recipe coming soon to L&D! Needless to say I FREAKIN loved the Saag Paneer dish, it's so darn freakin good! 

Paneer and flowers on table

So side note before jumping into what Paneer is and all the tips and back to Saag Paneer. This dish is a delicious spinach and cheese curry that is seriously yum, yum, YUM! It is always my number one recommendation to anyone who asks us what they should order the next time they are at an Indian restaurant  besides the usual butter chicken or tikka masala. So the next time you go out to eat try Saag Paneer or sometimes it's called Palak Paneer, I PROMISE that it will be one of your favorites in no time! 

Ok so back to paneer. :)  Paneer is a fresh soft citric acid-set cheese done by the curdling method  with cow milk. It is non-aged, non-melting soft cheese that kinda looks like cottage cheese, but TOTALLY isn’t.   You can use a variety of acids such as lemon juice, yogurt, and white vinegar that I am familiar with, but I usually make ours using both lemon juice and Greek yogurt. 

Paneer cheese homemadePaneer homemade Indian cheese

Paneer can be either crumbly or you can have it be  firm. If you want a firmer paneer like you usually get from the stores in a block or in most Indian restaurants you need to press the paneer for a longer time. The longer you press the paneer and squeeze out the liquid the harder the paneer you will get. We personally don’t like to press the paneer for a long time. We like more liquid in the paneer and usually eat the paneer fresh in the crumbly form. We also don’t usually cut it into cube forms. We like it more as a thick dip with an added  yummy sauce and/or veggies with it. 

Homemade paneer Indian cheese

 There are sooo many paneer dishes, but here are a few to start that are a must that we eat and make in our home currently with of course all recipes coming soon!  Saag paneer, Palak paneer, Paneer Bhurji, Paneer Tikka, *Paneer Butter Masala (Fun fact you can use our spice kit and just switch the chicken out for Paneer, that's it!) ______________________________________________________________________

Ingredients

PANEER 

  • 1 Gallon Whole Milk 
  • ¼ - ½  cup Lemon Juice  (*see tips) 
  • ½ cup Greek Yogurt 
  • 1 tsp Salt or to taste 

Instructions

  1. Grab a large pot and pour the entire gallon of milk into the pot
  2. Turn the stove onto a medium heat and bring it up to a boil 
  3. Once the milk is at a boiling point remove the pot from the heat and start to add the lemon juice and greek yogurt slowly lil by lil. 
  4. At some point you will start to see the milk curdle (the milk and whey will start to separate). I usually add a lil more acid at this point and stir it a lil to make sure everything is mixed well and then let it sit for 3 mins. 
  5. If you feel it needs more acid after 3 minutes then add a lil more and let it sit again
  6. Grab a cheese cloth, a strainer, and a glass mason jar. I make sure my kitchen sink is clean and then add a mason jar in the sink to catch a lil bit of the whey juice to use if needed when cooking my paneer dish. 
  7. I then place my metal strainer over the mason jar, and then my paneer cloth inside the metal strainer to catch the paneer. 
  8. Pour the paneer over the cheese cloth and metal strainer. Once all poured in grab the cheese cloth and bring the paneer into a ball and gently massage the paneer pushing out some of the liquid whey. 
  9. Unfold cheese cloth slightly and then add salt to taste. With a spoon move the cheese around in the cheesecloth to make sure the salt goes everywhere. 
  10. Then bring the cheesecloth back into a ball around the paneer, securing it in the cheesecloth with a twist and press to your desired time for how firm you want your paneer to be. 
  11. Either eat right away and add to your dish of choice or place in a tight sealed container in the fridge. Eat within 3-5 days. 

Tips

  • Try not to let the bottom of the pan burn, by stirring the milk  occasionally and more often when it comes closer to the boiling point. If the bottom burns it's all good it happens, trust me.. Just try to avoid scraping the bottom of the pan. But if you do it's no big deal. 
  • Use a bigger pot than you think, or just watch your pot when the milk is closer to boiling as I have had the milk overboil many times leaving a big milk mess on my stove. The milk boils over quickly, so watch it! 
  • Using a gallon of milk makes a ton of paneer so cut the recipe in half if you are nervous it's too much and will go bad.
  • We like to save some of the whey liquid to use later on for cooking to help keep the paneer nice and moist.

 

What are your Paneer tips and tricks?! :)

xoxo Lyndi 



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