Paneer

Cooking Instructions

Bring the milk to a boil. As soon as it begins to bubble, put in the lemon juice, stir once, and take the pot off the heat. Leave it for 15 minutes. The milk will curdle and the curds will separate from the whey.

Strain the curds through 3 layers of cheesecloth. Squeeze out as much whey as you can easily. (Do not discard this whey. Refrigerate it and use it in cooking instead of water.) Tie up the curds in the cheesecloth, using twine to make a small, round bundle. Use sufficient twine, as you now need to hang up this bundle somewhere to drip overnight. (I just hang it on the faucet in the sink.)

Next morning, remove the hanging bundle and untie it. Gently flatten it out to make a 4-inch patty, keeping the cheese loosely wrapped in the cheesecloth. Put the cheesecloth-wrapped cheese patty on a sturdy plate and place a very heavy object (5 to 6 pounds) on top of it. I use one of my very heavy, porcelain-covered cast-iron pots filled with water. If the pot seems in danger of tipping over to one side, I balance it by standing appropriately sized jars under its two handles. Leave the weight on the cheese for 4 to 5 hours. After the cheese has been pressed, it should be 1/2- to 3/4-inch thick.

Remove the cheese from the cheesecloth and, with a sharp knife, cut it into cubes, diamond shapes, or rectangles. If your cheese has pressed down to 1/2 inch, diamonds or rectangles no longer than an inch are best. If the cheese is about 3/4-inch thick, it can be cubed.

Paneer, once made, is quite crumbly and breakable. Because of this, it is generally fried and lightly browned before it is cooked. It is a good idea to do this frying in a well-seasoned cast-iron or teflon-lined skillet, as the cheese tends to stick a bit. There are some dishes in which the cheese is not fried at all.

Rather like bean curd, fresh paneer has very little taste of its own. It does have texture--and lots of protein. The taste comes from the flavors of the foods with which it is cooked. In a very traditional dish from the Punjab, paneer is combined with peas and tomatoes. It is frequently cooked with pureed spinach. It can also be crumbled and added to various grated vegetables (like squash and zucchini) to form "meatballs." It can be crumbled, layered with partially cooked rice, and baked.

Wine Pairing(s)

Woodbridge Chardonnay

Turner Road Chardonnay

Opolo 'Mountain' Zinfandel

Sawtooth Chardonnay

Kenwood Zinfandel

Weinstock 'Select' Zinfandel

Radiant Chardonnay

Rutherford Grove 'Pestoni' Sauvignon Blanc

Andretti Sauvignon Blanc

Shenanigans 'Grady' Emerald Zin