Paneer (or panir) is one of the easiest cheeses to make, partly because it isn’t a cheese at all. Similar to ricotta and labne, paneer is a curd, a coagulation, formed by acidifying milk at a high temperature. Doesn’t sound very sexy but believe me it is.
Drain the curds for a short time and then beat them and you end up with chhenna, a soft curd that can be used to make Kofta or be sweetened into a dessert. Continue to drain the chhenna and you end up with paneer, which is firm enough to cut with a knife and fry.
Just like tofu, the paneer has more texture than flavour. Depending on how much you press it, it will have a bite anywhere from a soft feta to a fried haloumi. And if you use it in curry, it will soak up the flavours it sits with and become more flavourful with time.
I’ll post a series of recipes using paneer over the next few weeks (the first is up now: Matar Paneer). Until then, try it out, press it to different textures, and enjoy the immediate kitchen cred you get from being a cheese maker!
Paneer
- 8 cups whole organic milk (preferably unpasteurised)
- 60ml lemon or lime juice (maybe a little more if necessary)
- 2 large pieces of fine muslin
Strain the lemon juice through a fine sieve and set aside. Pour the milk into a large heavy based saucepan and start to heat on a medium flame, stirring reasonably often to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom or sides. When the milk comes to the boil (sometimes this is hard to see, but the milk with be very frothy on top and will seem quite ‘active’ underneath), stir the lemon juice into the milk and then let it sit for a few seconds more on a low flame.
After a half minute or so, you will see the milk start to separate into curds and whey. If necessary, shake the pan to pull the curd away from the sides of the pot, or gently drag a wooden spoon in from the edge to see if solids are forming, but don’t stir the pot again. Curds are delicate things.
If nothing much seems to be happening, put the pot back on a flame for a seconds longer. If nothing still happens, then perhaps your lemon juice is rather weak. Add some more, or use a tablespoon of vinegar to pep up the acidity.
Sit a colander in a pot and then line the colander with the two pieces of muslin, each folded in half (so you should have four layers of muslin lining the colander). Once the liquid part of the milk is no longer white but more of a yellow, you can carefully pour the curds into the colander and allow the whey to drain into the pot. Don’t throw the whey away. It’s useful for many things including cooking stock.
As the whey drains, fold the muslin up and over the curds and tie opposite sides of the muslin together. Squeeze the curds gently to release most of the whey and then rinse the outside of the muslin under a running tap of cold water. Hang the curds in an airy place for a couple of hours to drain fully.
They can be used at this stage, or pressed further to make a firmer curd. lay the muslin covered curd on a plate and place a heavy pot filled with water or cans on top of it. Steady the edges of the pot with some appropriate sized jars under its handles. Let it press for 4 hours, or even overnight.
When finished, wrap and put in the fridge, but try to use the cheese as soon as possible in the next couple of days so it maintains its freshness. Paneer can be delicate and crumbly, so most recipes will call for you to fry the paneer slightly before you add it to curries or rice dishes.
This recipe is part of Real Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday Carnival.
super !! you rock gurl , you are motivating me to make paneer at home
There’s nothing that would make me prouder, Kankana!
Thank you. I love paneer. Does it have to be organic milk?
Well, it doesn’t have to be, but that’s how I ensure that the milk’s coming from a farmer who cares about their animals and that the milk is very high quality. It’s also the only way to get milk that comes from only one source, one farmer, in Australia. Also very important. But things are different in France, no? Not in all circumstances, but there are definitely more options, more respect for genus loci.
Hi Angela. Thanks for sharing this. I really like paneer and I’ve been wanting to try making it at home for sometime, but I couldn’t find the muslin. I have a big dressing in my first aid kit box and I almost use it at one time. Crazy me.
HI Michael, you know, you could just use a really clean tea towel, that would work fine!
Okay. Now I wish I had a batch of this prepared already because I’m hungry for paneer and chard. Thank you for showing us how accomplish-able this is!
Hi Christina, paneer and chard, the classic palak paneer, I’m in LOVE with it. And if I’d had any greens other than frozen peas at home this would have been my first paneer recipe.
Beautiful presentation! This is more of a question than a comment. Is the result similar to Italian ricotta? The method seems similar, although I have to admit that I have not made my own ricotta!
Hi Chris,
and yes, absolutely it is. Except that ricotta is made with the whey left over from cheese making. Lemon juice is added to the whey and it’s heated and whatever curd is left in the whey is drawn out. I think. I’ll check that out and let you know.
Great post, my oldest son loves making fresh cheese and has tried a couple…will definitely share this with him.
Im making this now.. Fingers crossed!
If this turns out it will be something i make on a regular basis.
Thanks heaps!
Great! Let me know how it turns out. If you have any troubles with it, maybe I can help.
Me and cheese haven’t got it together yet. I’ve tried a few times and had to throw out a lot of milk. I’m going to try again with this recipe and I’ll post how I get on. What I wanted was to get a replacement for soft cheese that I could use to make cheesecake – rather than a shop-bought thing with a page of chemical additives. Would this panir work? I’ll try anyway.
Lesley! Sorry it’s taken me so long to reply- I’m not sure how I lost your comments. I think the easiest cheesecake cheese I can think of would be a labne- They have a wonderful texture and you can make quite a lot of it easily. you can make this by straining really fresh yoghurt. Ricotta would be another one, but traditionally, it’s made from whey rather than milk, and you need a lot of whey to make it happen. But I would also try the soft version of this paneer- chenna. Let me know how you go, and I’ll try to post on labne soon- it’s such a great cheese, with so many applications.
Hi Angela a great blog and really good instructions for this cheese! – can you you this cheese to replace ricotta in a ricotta fruit tart?
Hi Joan, I would say yes, definitely try substituting this for ricotta and let me know how it goes! you might want to stop at the softer stage (chenna), or at least, don’t drain it for too long. The paneer can end up a fair bit firmer than a lot of ricotta, so you might have to feel your way into the texture required for the tart. Let me know how it goes!
love your recipe… This is how my mum makes paneer too. You could stir in some roasted cumin seeds, nutmeg and some lightly smashed black peppers for some added flavour just before pouring the separated paneer into the muslin… It makes it spicier and tastes amazing with palak paneer or kadhai paneer.
love your recipe… This is how my mum makes paneer too. You could stir in some roasted cumin seeds, nutmeg and some lightly smashed black peppers for some added flavour just before pouring the separated paneer into the muslin.. It makes it spicier and tastes amazing in palak paneer or kadhai paneer.
Those are fabulous ideas! Thanks Aparna. I’m definitely going to spice up my paneer next time. And I’ve not made kadhai paneer… what’s that?
I have used even a new wash rag, just make sure the corners are folded so that nothing will come out…. this is obviously for small batches. I am curious…. how important is the pressing part? Is it mostly to ensure the curd has seperated from the cream completely? Is it a means to an end or is this also causing firmness and sliceability?
Hi Mike, sorry for the delayed response- the pressing is for both the reasons you mentioned- kind of. (not the curd separating from the cream, but the curd from the whey).
Pressing the curd gives it a more consistent texture, as the whey if forced to drain away completely. And this does, in turn, firm up the paneer, too. But if you don’t care about how firm the paneer is, you don’t have to press it very much. Also, the end firmness is also a result of how much lemon juice you use initially, and what sort of coagulant (sometimes other acids are used). The more coagulant, the more acid the coagulant, the firmer the end result. No matter how much you press a lightly coagulated paneer, you won’t end up with a really firm result.