Paneer(cottage cheese) is the most widely used fresh cheese in Indian recipes. It is very versatile and is used in making tikka, curry, salad, and sweets. Grated paneer can be sprinkled on the dosa, pizza, pasta, or rice.
Paneer is a fresh cheese made by curdling heated milk with any acids such as lemon juice, vinegar, citric acid or curd. This separates thick curd from the whey. The curdled mixture or the thick curd is then strained in a muslin or cheese or soft cloth and the excess water is pressed out. The cloth with the paneer is hung for half hour to remove the excess water. This is the basic way to prepare paneer.
Paneer can be made at home very quickly almost in 30 minutes. Once you start making it at home, you will prefer to make it regularly at home. It is clean, hygienic and made with care.
Paneer made by using curd is softer, creamier and less tangy. I mostly use curd to make paneer. If curd is not available then I will use lemon juice.
I will also share the recipe for paneer made using lemon juice soon.
Few points to take care:
Use full cream milk. (Do not use fat-free milk if you want paneer to cut into pieces if you want to crumble paneer you can go for low-fat milk)
The curd should be whisked nicely before using it. It helps to get smooth paneer.
While adding curd or any acidic agent to the boiling milk, always lower the heat and then add curd or any acidic agents.
Constantly stir the milk after adding the acidic agents or curd so that it does not stick to the bottom.
After the milk is curdled-it will take another 5-7 minutes for it to separate from the whey (greenish water). Immediately strain the curdled mixture to remove excess water. If you keep the curdled mixture more on heat, the paneer set would become chewy.
The paneer would be set in 30 minutes. If you want paneer to set in a block then wrap the curdled mixture in the cloth and shape the mixture to a rectangle and place a heavy weight over it for a couple of hours. It will set in a nice block. You can cut into pieces and use to make tikkas or use in curries.
To retain the freshness, the paneer block is immersed in a bowl of fresh water. This will also help in removing excess sourness from paneer and also make it soft. The paneer kept in water can be refrigerated for 3-4 days, changing the water every 8 hours.
I started making paneer at home after my son was born. I was not satisfied with the cleanliness and the hygienic conditions of the dairy selling the milk products. I do not want Aarav to eat those. Paneer is very healthy and I prefer eating it weekly once or twice. So then I started making it at home.
So friends do try making paneer at home and you will never go to shops to buy it!
Homemade Paneer Using Curd (Cottage Cheese)
Ingredients
- 6 cup full fat milk
- 3 cup yogurt
Instructions
- Heat milk in a pan. Bring it to boil. Stir in between so that the milk does not get stick at the bottom of the pan.
- Take curd in a bowl and whisk it till smooth.
- The milk is boiling. Lower the heat.
- Add the smoothen curd to the milk. Stir the milk. It will start curdling.
- After a five minutes, it will be curdled fully and greenish water will be separated.
- Strain the curdled milk in the strainer kept in a bowl. You can put a soft cloth in the strainer and strain the curdled milk.( I have directly strained in the strainer).
- The greenish water will be collected in the bowl. It is known as "whey". It is very healthy and nutritious. Utilise it to make buttermilk, kneading dough, making soup, dal or kadhi, making khandvi.
- The curdled mixture will be collected in the strainer. Put the strainer in another bowl and cover it and keep aside for 30 minutes so that the excess water will be removed. (if you want to make a block then put the curdled mixture in soft cloth, squeeze it to remove excess water and then shape it in a rectangle and put a heavy weight over it for a couple of hours. I use it while making paneer with lemon juice.)
- After 3o minutes, remove the set paneer from the strainer, cut it into pieces and use as required. The paneer made with curd is too soft. Immerse it in a bowl of fresh water and refrigerate to store, Keep changing water after every 8 hours to retain the freshness. The paneer can stay fresh for 3-4 days.
- Paneer is ready to use.
Thank you for sharing this quick and easy recipe of making paneer at home.
Do we really need a full 3 cups of yogurt? Other recipes use much lesser. Please advice. Also, when do we turn off the flame? Is it immediately after adding the yogurt or after it fully curdles?
Hi
Thank you for going through the recipe. The milk needs to be curdled to make paneer. It needs any acidic agent such as lemon juice, yogurt / curd or vinegar. The paneer made using curd is soft in texture and to the ratio of curdling the milk with curd is 2:1 of milk: yogurt i.e the amount of yogurt needed is half the quantity of milk taken. Always whisk he yogurt before adding to the milk. Once the milk starts to boil, lower the heat and add the whisked yogurt and then stir it well till the milk curdles and the whey or greenish liquid is separated. Turn off the heat once the milk is fully curdled. Please do try this recipe and share your review with me and also please let me know if you need any more information.
I keep low flame on until its all curdled
Yes you need to keep low flame while curdling the milk.
How long will the whey last in the fridge?
To retain the freshness, the paneer block is immersed in a bowl of fresh water. This will also help in removing excess sourness from paneer and also make it soft. The paneer kept in water can be refrigerated for 3-4 days, changing the water every 8 hours.
Months!
Quantities, this looks a great recipe but there is no mention of Quantities, especially the lemon juice if used. What ratio is required.
Hi. Thanks for sharing this recipe I definitely want to try it. I have one question. What type of yogurt do I need to use?? Because it only says yogurt but I don’t know if you mean, plain, Greek, full fat, low fat etc. Please let me know so I can try it ASAP 😀
Thanks again
Thank you so much for going through the recipe. Sorry for the late reply. I always use homemade yogurt made from low fat milk. Whisk yogurt well and add to the full fat milk after boiling it. However you can use any yogurt you have.
Use whatever you want the paneer to be if you want a lower fat cheese then use that!
Also flavored yogurt works I used berry and got berry paneer
Hi, I have tried with ratio (500 gm: one medium cup home made curd and it comes nicely. Thanks.
Thank you so much!!
One of my 8oz homemade yogurt curdled on me so I made a mini paneer out of it for a topping on beet salad. I only had whole milk lactaid left after making yogurt! So I used 1/2 cup whole milk lactaid 1/4 cup of failed yogurt WORKED added some fresh lemon mint before pressing! Great save for an oddball yogurt!
Fyi I added a tablespoon of berry jam to the yogurt b4 fermentation by guess is thats what curdled it! It was only a test on an 8 oz jar thankfully!! Put jam on bottom only dont mix together that works perfectly. Now I have berry mint paneer so no complaints lol
Thats wonderful. new twist and innovation in the recipe!! n
Can I use this chhena to make rasgulla?
Hi Kanan
It is better to use the chenna made by curdling the milk with lemon or vinegar. It gives better result in making rasgulla. Thank you so much. Happy cooking!!
Aarav is such an original name! I never knew such a name existed!!!