Scrambled Eggs, Cheese, and Avocado Tortilla Bowl Recipe
September 16, 2025
How to make Paneer (fresh Indian cheese) Recipe
This can be a recipe for make Paneer, a cottage cheese from the Indian subcontinent utilized in conventional dishes resembling Palak Paneer (Spinach Curry). It’s far superior to store-bought with a a lot softer, creamier texture.
Tremendous-easy to make, and so very satisfying!
Paneer is a contemporary cheese that may be a frequent ingredient utilized in northern Indian (in addition to different close by international locations’) cooking. Maybe most well-known is Palak Paneer, the enduring inexperienced spinach curry served with golden pan-fried paneer!
As of late, you should purchase paneer at massive grocery shops in Australia resembling Coles and Woolworths. However it’s a lot tougher in texture and never a fantastic product. Do-it-yourself is way superior – it’s softer and creamier.
In addition to, it’s such a cinch to make and lasts for a few weeks within the fridge. So why wouldn’t you simply make your personal??
Paneer is a contemporary cheese so it’s considerably much like different contemporary cheeses like ricotta, quark and cottage cheese. It’s bought a milky flavour and a stunning texture a bit like agency ricotta. It’s not as creamy as say a brie, as a result of it doesn’t have anyplace close to the identical quantity of fats.
Paneer is unsalted so it’s fairly bland if eaten plain. For Indian cooking, it’s meant to be eaten with flavourful sauces or spicing – just like the Spinach Curry sauce pictured beneath for Palak Paneer!
All you want is milk, and lemon juice or vinegar. Gee, I want extra recipes on my web site known as for simply 2 substances! 😂
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Milk – It must be full-fat, in any other case it gained’t set correctly. I’ve solely used cow’s milk, however I’ve learn that buffalo milk works simply as effectively; and
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Lemon juice or vinegar – This together with warmth is what causes the milk to curdle, the start line of any cheese. Curdling is when the dairy separates from the liquid. I want lemon juice as a result of it’s more energizing and never as harsh in acidity flavour-wise, however normal white vinegar works too.
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Warmth milk, add lemon – Convey milk to only beneath boiling level. That is when the highest is all foamy, and you’ll see it’s scorching and steamy.
As soon as the milk is scorching, flip the range off. Add the lemon juice and stir for 1 minute;
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Curdled milk – You’ll see the milk start to curdle, with little white bits separating from the clear(-ish) liquid. This liquid is known as the whey. The white bits are the good things, known as curds – the foundations of cheese!
Milk not curdling? Flip the range again on and convey the milk to a boil once more, simply till it begins separating. Then flip the range off and hold stirring.
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Line colander with cheesecloth – Set a sieve, strainer or colander over a big bowl, then line the strainer with 2 layers of cheesecloth (sure we’re truly utilizing cheesecloth at this time for it’s authentic goal!)
What’s cheesecloth? It’s a skinny, loose-woven cloth used for cheese-making and different cooking functions. It acts like a sieve, however the holes are a lot finer than normal utensils. Don’t attempt to drain paneer in a fine-mesh strainer or sieve –- you’ll lose the curds by way of the holes!
The place to search out cheesecloth? At cloth shops and a few kitchenware shops. You will get it for as little as $3 per metre.
Cheesecloth options – Clear blue Chux wipes (sure, critically!), a double layer of good-quality paper towels (don’t use low cost paper towels, they are going to disintegrate), or very skinny handkerchiefs.
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Drain paneer – Begin by ladling the curdled milk into the lined strainer. When you’ve gotten spooned in about half, you may pour the remainder in. The whey can take 5 to 10 minutes to complete draining away, so in case your strainer is small, it’s possible you’ll must pressure the curdled milk in batches.
The paneer is drained as soon as liquid stops dripping out. At this stage, the paneer will nonetheless be fairly delicate and watery.
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Rinse – Bundle up the paneer so it’s wrapped within the cheesecloth, Then give it a rinse beneath the faucet. That is simply to take away the surplus lemon flavour.
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Squeeze out extra water – Twist the highest of the fabric and squeeze the bundle itself, to squeeze out extra water and whey.
You don’t want to make use of brute pressure right here as a result of we might be draining additional within the fridge. Simply squeeze out what you may. If the paneer begins getting pressured out by way of the cheesecloth holes, you’re squeezing too onerous!
At this stage, the paneer will nonetheless appear watery and wobbly. It units extra within the subsequent step!
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Put together to refrigerate – Discard all of the liquid within the bowl. Then set the paneer within the cheesecloth again within the strainer, and set over empty bowl. Form the paneer right into a 2cm/ 4/5″ thick disc.
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Overwhelm – Prime with a small plate, then overwhelm with 2 x 400g/14oz cans or one thing else of comparable weight. This weight helps the paneer set as a result of it’s compressing the cheese, in addition to serving to to additional take away remaining extra water.
Depart within the fridge for 4 hours.
Attempt to not go away a lot past 4 hours. The longer the paneer is within the fridge with the weights on it, the firmer it would get (as extra liquid continues to be pressed out of it).
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Prepared to be used! Take away the paneer from the fridge and unwrap it. There might be a dent within the center – that is regular, it’s from the liquid draining away.
You may both use it instantly for cooking, or you may hold it for as much as 2 weeks within the fridge. Simply hold it entire in an hermetic container, then reduce off items as you want them!
Paneer is often reduce into small bite-size items, both cubes or rectangles. Then they’re both:
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Stirred into curries, simply as-is. Paneer doesn’t want cooking, simply heating by way of. The concept right here is that the paneer absorbs the flavour of the curry sauce; or
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Pan-fried till golden – such as you do halloumi – earlier than being stirred into curries resembling Palak Paneer, and different dishes.
It should come as no shock to anybody that I want the latter. As a result of, as I all the time say, browning = flavour!! The paneer seems to be irresistible when it’s crispy and golden on the surface. You simply need to eat it straight out of the pan. You actually will. I do!
Bonus: Pan-frying additionally causes the paneer to set higher, so it’s much less prone to break up when stirred into curries – a standard drawback when raw paneer is stirred into curries.
I’m sharing at this time’s selfmade paneer recipe to be used in Palak Paneer, India’s well-known Spinach Curry with Paneer.
However there’s all kinds of different Indian dishes that use paneer, each savoury major dishes in addition to desserts and snacks.
It’s additionally frequent to substitute paneer for meat in some dishes, because it makes a fantastic vegetarian various that’s equally filling and satisfying. Listed here are a few curry recipes I’ve beforehand shared that may be made vegetarian by switching the meat with paneer:
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Paneer Tikka Masala – Substitute the chicken with paneer in my Chicken Tikka Masala recipe; and
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Paneer Butter Masala Curry – Change the chicken in my Butter Chicken.
Take pleasure in! – Johnsat x
Ingredients
- 2 litres / 2 quarts milk , full-fat (low-fat won't work)
- 4 tbsp lemon juice (sub white vinegar)
Instructions
- Heat the milk in a large saucepan over medium high heat until the top becomes foamy, just as looks like it's about to boil.
- Turn stove off. Add lemon juice and stir for 1 minute. The milk should begin to curdle. If it doesn’t, turn the stove back on and bring back to a gentle boil until the solids separate.
- Line strainer or colander: Place over a deep bowl. Line strainer with 2 layers of cheesecloth (Note 1).
- Strain: Ladle in half of the curdled milk to begin with, then pour the rest in. Leave until all the liquid drains – this might take 5 to 10 minutes.
- Rinse: Discard liquid (whey) in the bowl. Bundle the paneer up in the cheesecloth (it will still be quite watery at this stage) then rinse bundle briefly under cold tap water. This helps to remove lemon flavour + cool for easier handling.
- Squeeze out excess water by twisting the cheesecloth and squeezing the bundle, but not so hard that paneer squeezes out through the cloth. Once liquid no longer comes out, stop. The paneer will still be quite soft at this stage.
- Weigh cheese down with weights: Shape cheese into a disc around 2cm / ¾" thick, still wrapped in cheesecloth. Place in a strainer or colander set over a bowl. Top with a small plate then 2 x 400g/14oz cans (or similar weight).
- Refrigerate for 4 hours. During this time the paneer will set (become firm) and remaining liquid will drain out. (Note 2)
- Remove paneer from fridge and carefully unwrap. There will be a dent in the middle, this is normal (it's from the draining).
- At this stage, the paneer is now ready for use. You can either cut it immediately and use in a recipe (such as Palak Paneer!), or store the whole uncut block for another time and just cut when needed.
- Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or freeze for 3 months.
Notes
1. Cheesecloth – Thin loose-woven cotton fabric used in cheesemaking and other cooking for straining. Sold at fabric stores and some kitchenware stores. It can be as cheap as $3 per metre.
Alternatives: Clean blue Chux wipes (yes, really!); old thin handkerchiefs used in a single layer; 2 layers of good-quality paper towels (not cheap stuff, they just disintegrate). Standard tea towels won’t work, they are too thick for the liquid to drain out.
2. If you leave it in longer, the cheese will become firmer and can be more crumbly to cut because the weight continues to press liquid out. So try to stick to 4 to 5 hours for the time the paneer is in the fridge with the weights on. Your paneer will be nice and soft, like we want!
Did You Make This Recipe?
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