Homemade paneer

Paneer, also known as Ricotta or Cottage Cheese is a favorite ingredient in Indian cooking, and there's nothing like fresh homemade paneer! I have posted several paneer recipes on this blog, and over the course of time, a lot of my readers have reported that they live in regions where readymade paneer is not that accessible, and it'd be great to make it at home. Actually, making paneer at home is not such a big deal; its simple and does not require a lot of care or expertise! Plus, homemade paneer guarantees that you are eating something fresh, and its definitely a great resource for those who cannot find it in stores near them. So catering to popular demand, here's a simple recipe to make paneer at home.

I have adapted this recipe from ehow's article on How To Make Paneer and also Indira's post about homemade paneer. You need only two ingredients for this - whole milk and an acid like lemon juice or vinegar. The final quantity of paneer that you get would be about 15% of the weight of the milk you start with. So one liter of milk makes about 150 grams of cheese and a gallon of milk makes a little more than a pound. What you get after curdling the milk is cottage cheese or ricotta; when you press it and shape it like a bar, you would get the firmer version called "paneer", same as what you get in the indian grocery stores.

Ingredients (For 150 gms of paneer)
1 liter whole milk
1/2 lemon or lime - juiced, or 1-3 tsp vinegar
muslin cloth (or anything that's a bit thin)

If you are using 1 Gallon of milk, use juice from one whole lemon


Method
Bring the milk to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently to prevent burning or sticking.

When it comes to a boil, stir in the acid and cook for another 2-3 minutes; in a few minutes, you see small curds floating on top. Wait till they get bigger to form small stone-like granules, about five minutes. The solids will clump together (known as channa or curd) and the remaining liquid will become a thin watery white (known as whey).

Now turn off heat and allow to sit for a few minutes to cool.

Strain through the muslin cloth. When the liquid is mostly drained out, lift the cloth by the corners and twist to squeeze out remaining liquid. You can put the cloth with the paneer in it to sit on a colander over the sink for an hour or so till all excess water drips away. What you get at this stage is cottage cheese. If you let it sit for an additional 12 to 24 hrs at room temperature to develop acidity, and then cook it further you will be able to make ricotta cheese.

To make paneer, press the cloth-covered cheese under a 5kg (or anything heavy enough) weight for up to two hours. I folded the cloth around the cheese, then pressed it to shape like a rectangular bar, and put it between two heavy wooden cutting boards. Put something heavier on top of the cutting board to increase the weight. Leave it like this for a couple of hours.

This makes the paneer firm and hard. Now you can store it in an airtight box and refrigerate till ready to use. You can even cut it into cubes and store them.

Cooking with paneer
When you want to use the paneer, remove from fridge and let it sit at room temperature for about 10 mins. Then you can slice it, shred it, grate it or cut it into desired shapes!

Now that you have homemade paneer.