We use paneer for lot of dishes. When you buy it at store it may me quite costly. Preparing paneer at home is very easy. For those who are new to cooking, prepare paneer at home and you are sure to amaze your family members.
There are many ways to prepare paneer. Milk is the main ingredient. The ingredient used to curdle milk may vary. If you are using paneer for gravy then you can use lemon juice or citric acid for curdling milk. If you are preparing sweet, then you may use whey water to curdle milk. You can also use curd for the process.
Procedure:
1. Bring milk to boil.
2. Add the curdling agent(lemon juice or 1/2tsp of citric acid)
3. Switch off stove and gently stir the milk.
4. It will start curdling and the whey water will get separated.
5. Once the whey water is clear, line a metal sieve with a muslin cloth, place the sieve on a wide container and pour the curdled milk into the sieve.
6. The water collected in the container is the whey.
7. When water has completely drained, place the muslin with paneer on a flat surface.
8. Fold the cloth over paneer to cover it tightly.
9. Place a heavy flat object on the paneer.
10. Leave it for 1 hour.
11. Remove the heavy object and take ot the compressed paneer.
12. Cut into squares and use.
13. The whey got during this process is very nutritious and can be used in greavies or for preparing chapathi dough.
14. You can also ferment the whey for 36hours and use it for preparing paneer.
15. Use the fermented whey instead of lemon juice and you will get soft paneer which can be used for preparing rasgolla or milk cake.
Add the lemon Juice to boiling milk.
Switch off stove and wait till it curdles.
Line a sieve with a cloth and transfer the curdled mixture to the sieve.
When the water drips off, place the cloth on a flat surface and shape the paneer into a square.
Fold the cloth over the paneer in a square shape.
Place it in between two granite rolling stones and place it slanting to make it easy for the water to drip away.
After 1 hour, remove the slab from the cloth.
Cut into small cubes.
For crumbled paneer, leave the paneer in the strainer for 2-3hours or until completely dry.
Transfer contents to a bowl.
Use a fork to crumble the paneer.
Labels: LEMON, MILK, PANEER, TIPS
