Cheese and Whey

Making paneer

I LOVE cooking curry, its so much better when you make it yourself. And it also means you can use an ingredient I don’t think you see enough of in menus and that’s paneer.

Better still paneer is really easy to make yourself so you can feel super smug home-made curry AND home-made paneer.

Panner and whey

So last time I fancied curry I decided I’d do some paneer. I got a bargain carton of proper whole milk in the supermarket reductions and I was away.

Paneer (makes enough for 1 main dish curry for 2-4 depending on what else you serve)

2 pints whole milk
2 tbsp lemon juice

1. Heat the milk in a pan until it comes to a boil. stir it to prevent it burning.
2. Turn the heat right down and add the lemon juice stirring as you add it. Turn off the heat.
3. Continue to stir off the heat whilst the curds form.
4. When the curds have separated leave to stand for 10 minutes.
5. Carefully spoon the curds into a muslin lined colander or sieve. Fold the muslin over the top and weigh down with a plate a tin.
6. Leave to drain and firm overnight.
7. Unwrap and store in the fridge covered until needed. It will keep for two weeks.
If the curds don’t separate properly initially then add a little more lemon juice and reheat.

I used the whey in bread making, it gives a lovely loaf for toasting.

5 thoughts on “Making paneer”

  1. I made it a few times, but I found that I really need to have a thermometer to help me put in the lemon at the right time, otherwise it gets crumbly and not a nice solid block like the ones you buy. Still, even crumbly paneer is nice :-).

    Nice blog!

    Ciao
    Alessandra

  2. Glad I’ve inspired you all to make it again soon or give it another go, it really is so easy. Weighting it down while its draining makes for much firmer texture too which means it hold together better when its cooked in the curry.

Comments are closed.