Paneer Right Here

[Anonymous No.4331149]

Hi /ck/ join me on my first paneer cheese making experience. I'd heard it was very easy to do from an Indian guy in line at an Indian fast food resturaunt. Well he was indeed (mostly) correct. Though I haven't tasted it yet, its still cooling and I'll let you know if I fucked up.

This is basically the standard recipe except I used some "coco vinegar", because shit wtf else am I going to do with that shit? I have no idea. Will see how that turns out.

Ingredients: Whole milk, vinegar/lemon juice, cheese cloth

[Anonymous No.4331163]

>>4331149
Heating the milk at medium heat. I never heat liquids at anything less than high and was amazed how long it took. Cleaned the entire kitchen waiting for this to happen. You should be stirring frequently. I thought I was, but I walked away for about 2 minutes and could feel a film on the bottom with my spatula. I try not to upset the film, just let it sit there rather than reintroducing it into the delicious warm milk.

[Anonymous No.4331169]

Introduction of the coco vinegar. I added it in 1/2 tbsp increments. Grand total was 1 1/2 tbsp, and probably only needed 1.

[Anonymous No.4331177]

>>4331169
A thoroughly chunky monkey, I stirred it for about 5 minutes on low heat. I guess I should have mentioned I added the vinegar once the milk was at a low boil. But I could never really see the "boil" like I can with water, there was a weird layer of froth over everything. Of course once I added the vinegar it started chunking immediately, but the froth did kind of disguise the chunks a little bit.

[Anonymous No.4331179]

>>4331177
Also some of that burned crap on the bottom started to float up with the curdles. Crap. I try not to touch the bottom, but I guess the curdling process was pulling them off anyways. It was only a few, no big disaster. Also boiling milk is unpleasant to the skin.

[Anonymous No.4331183]

>>4331179
the bottom of the pot. Definitely a good amount of stuff stuck to the bottom. No worries, its an outrageously expensive calphalon nonstick that I didn't purchase.

[Anonymous No.4331185]

>>4331183
Finally the product in its intermediate form. Looks like cottage cheese. As far as I understand, it _is_ cottage cheese. This is after a thorogh washing. The cheese was excellent at clogging the cheese cloth, so the bottom half of the product is still insanely hot despite all the cold water.

[Anonymous No.4331189]

>>4331185
And finally the squeezed up version of the paneer. I'm letting this rest between two plates in the fridge until it finishes cooling. It was difficult getting the whey out without squeezing some curd through the cheese cloth holes. I think there is some missing technique here.

[Anonymous No.4331190]

>>4331179
>>4331183
Yeah, you let the milk get too hot. It shouldn't even get to the "rolling foam" stage. It should be heated (over medium-low heat, not medium-high) to the point where there's small bubbles forming and popping around the rim, and steam is rising, but it's not remotely bubbling across the surface. You want it thoroughly scalded, but not boiled. That will keep the flavor fresh and keep the bottom burn away. You should also stir it fairly constantly while it heats.

[Anonymous No.4331191]

>>4331189
oops here it is

[Anonymous No.4331192]

>>4331190
Thanks, noted for future reference.

[Anonymous No.4331196]

>>4331189
Once you've let it drain in the cheesecloth, tie it up and place it between two cutting boards and weight the top of it with canned goods to equal at least 10 pounds or up to 20. I put mine on my bbq board, then put a plastic cutting board on top, then put my rectangular cast iron griddle on top of that, then I put as much canned goods as I can stack on top. Then I let it sit for about 2 hours. You want it to be compacted as much as possible, so you can cut it and it will hold together. Then I let it age overnight in the fridge before using.

[Anonymous No.4331220]

>>4331196
I used a similar technique, but not for as long or with as much pressure. This is what it looks like. I've since put it back in the fridge under increased weight for an overnight pressing as per your suggestion.

Tastes like solid milk. Not unpleasant. I can definitely taste the fat of the whole milk, which I am unaccustomed to. Wonder if this works with skim?

I figure I should make some palak paneer out of it tomorrow. But outside of the obvious, what else is this stuff good for?

[Anonymous No.4331412]

Food network says put some nuts on it. And honey. I don't know, its the Food Network.

[Anonymous No.4331414]

>>4331220
Not meant to be eaten straight. Little bit of honey will do wonders for it.

[Anonymous No.4332017]

>>4331220
did you put salt in it?

[None !5P0TETRAO2 No.4332046]

>>4331220
looking foward to tommorow.

Awesome post OP

[Anonymous No.4332050]

>>4331220

[Anonymous No.4332061]

>>4331220

Indian here, Paneer is great for making kebabs, or as stuffing in parathas. You can even make sweets, like ras malai( clotted cream+ paneer)

[Anonymous No.4332450]

I fucking love making paneer cheese, so easy and yummy. My new favorite cheese to make is done with milk and butter milk. You take a gallon of milk and a quart of buttermilk and heat together in a (fucking massive) pot till it hits 180F. Strain and salt (I've also mixed in different foods like chives, garlic, and lemon before). I eat it fresh while it's still hot. I'm going to try making some with cream tomorrow. Anybody done that before?

[Anonymous No.4333763]

OP here. What a difference a day makes. The paneer is much more firm and dry, and the new texture makes it very tasty. Not sure the best way to store it from here on out, I'm assuming a zip lock bag.

I'm enjoying it now with honey and crushed pistachios. For >>4332050
I've added some /p/ skills to make the photo a bit sexier than white cheese on a white background.

>>4332061
>>4332450
Thanks for the recommendations. I will try to keep notes for next time. Let us know how the cream paneer goes.

>>4332017
No salt. Is that a thing?

>>4332046
Thanks, it was fun.

[Anonymous No.4333773]

>>4331191

>dat disgusting fat, hippo hand.

[Anonymous No.4333776]

slightly more descriptive photo

[Anonymous No.4333783]

>standing in line at an indian restaurant
>line is taking forever
>standing behind elderly looking indian man, long beard, turban and all
>suddenly he turns around
>"son, let me tell you about the art of cheese-making"

[Anonymous No.4333785]

>>4333783
lol, pretty much. Except the guy was in his 30's, and he wanted to explain how he makes gulab jamun, which I guess kind of detoured into how to make the paneer for it.

Crap thats what I should be making with this stuff.

[Anonymous No.4333788]

>>4333785
>gulab jamun
had this at a local indian place recently. i need more.

[Anonymous No.4333854]

let that stuff sit until it goes mozzarella

[Anonymous No.4333934]

What does /ck/ think of navratan korma?

[Anonymous No.4334085]

>>4333783
That's awesome.

I make paneer often. Bring 3 L milk almost to a boil, remove from heat and stir in lemon juice, keep stirring until curdled, put in cheese cloth and run cold water on it to stop from cooking, tie cheese cloth, put lots of weight on it for a few hours.

[Anonymous No.4334545]

>>4333785

>gulab jamun

Yes it is. That sweet is made out of Khova, which is slightly different from paneer.

[Anonymous No.4334555]

Yo cheesema/ck/ers, is there any usage for the leftover milk you extracted your soon-to-be-cheese from? Or is it just waste product?

[Anonymous No.4335874]

>>4334555
You could make your own whey protein. I think that might just be a matter of evaporating the liquids off? I think that would be ridiculous though, whey too much effort.

[Anonymous No.4335914]

>>4334555
you can use it to lacto-ferment vegetables. I like lacto-fermented ginger carrots.

[Anonymous No.4335926]

You can make mascarpone that way too, you just need to add the lemon juice to some warm heavy cream and then soak it overnight.

And to do cream cheese IIRC you have to add the lemon juice to one part of whole milk to one part of cream and after that you should add a teaspoon of live yogurt in it to make it a bit tastier.

[Anonymous No.4335990]

>>4334555

To make a press, OP, you could go to a thrift store and look for bamboo steamer trays. Place the cheesecloth in the tray, put the cheese in, cover with a round board and top with some heavy shit. Pressto!

For what to do with the leftover whey, I thought I remembered hearing that the leftover liquid from the first day was what Indian cheesemakers used to make the next days batch of paneer with, and so on and so forth.

OP, if you want other things to do with your cheese, one thing I read that looks relatively easy is to press the everloving shit out of it for a day or so and then place it in a container of heavily salted water for I don't even know how long, which results in feta cheese.

This guy makes all sorts of cheeses out of kefir cheese, which is basically the cheese you made except he kefirs the milk first. Really amazing stuff-
http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefir_cheese.html

[Anonymous No.4336163]

>>4335990
That wasn't me, but it was a really good question... there was a lot of still-opaque liquid to throw out at the end of the process.

>>4335926
I had no idea mascapone could be done that way. Its hard to come by in my parts and I love using it in hatch chili dumplings. Will definitely be my next project.