Topic: Question - home made paneer

[Sverige]

Has anyone made their own paneer? How did you get on? How easy and how good was deh results?

[Mattie]

Its easy as pie, I used this method: http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/how-to-make-paneer-homemade-paneer/ i need abit more lemon juice to curd the milk but 4 pints of wholemilk made about 500g of Paneer.

[Sverige]

Excellent info, thanks mattie

[livo]

My brother in law and his wife are vegetarian and they make and eat lots of home-made paneer.  I've done it once or twice using "standard" method with acidic separation and been not overly happy with the flavours produced, the lemon juice or vinegar methods can impart a sourness and chalkiness that I don't like.

The method that my BIL uses is with natural set yogurt.  I'd have to ask about quantities but he heats his full cream milk and then adds the yogurt to start the separation. Do not use Greek Yogurt, just normal natural set yogurt.

Strain off the curd and use the cheese cloth or muslin to drain and then press to set.  In eating his cheese I found it much more palatable than the acid set stuff.

Another method I've read about a long time ago, and I can't remember where, is the use of unflavoured Junket tablets.  Junket used to be a very popular desert dish back in the 1960's and 70's but you hardly ever hear about it anymore. Active ingredient is Rennet which is an enzyme used in many cheeses in commercial preparation.

[livo]

I've just spent a couple of days experimenting with milk. I obtained nearly 10 litres of full cream milk very cheap and a couple of litres was unhomogenised (cream on top). I first made two 1 cup yoghurt starters using, separately, green chili and lemon and then a 500g and a 250g yoghurt from each. The chili starter worked better imho. These yoghurt will be even nicer next batch.  I also then made a 1 kg batch using a natural pot set yoghurt starter in the Easiyo yoghurt maker so I will now need to use up nearly 2 kg of yoghurt. Luckily, I also managed to get 5 cheap 2 kg chickens. Tandoori and Tikka on the menu this week and some into the freezer.
Ive already used some of the yoghurt as I then set about using the rest of the milk to make paneer, using  the lemon set yoghurt to induce the separation.  I fashioned a crude cheese press out of a plastic basket and a block of steel and it produced excellent results so I now have a big block of home made paneer to consume. I'm thinking Paneer Tikka, Makhani Paneer and Pilau Paneer for starters.