How to Make Indian Cottage Cheese(paneer)

- Paneer indian cottage cheese is made by curdling milk and draining the whey using muslin cloth.

-Paneer dishes are most popular in indian restaurants and also in parties.

-This indian cottage cheese can be used to make various starters like panner tikka,panner 65 and also the most famous paneer butter masala and various curries which go well with naan.

-Homemade paneer is very fresh and can be prepared very easily

Ingredients:

-one litre milk(full fat)

-4 to 5 tbsp yoghurt( or you can use 2 tbsp lemon juice or few drops of vinegar)

-muslin cloth or any cheese cloth

-strainer

Step 1: Boiling Milk

-First step is to boil the milk.

Step 2: Curdling Milk

-Once milk starts boiling add 4 to 5 tbsp yoghurt for 1 litre milk.You can see milk starts curdling.

-If needed add little more yoghurt until you see curdling and switch off the stove and wait for a minute

Step 3: Cooling

-After milk is curdled we need to take colander and cover with muslin cloth and strain the curdled milk through it.

-Entire whey gets removed through straining. you can strain in basin or put some vessel at the bottom of colander so that whey settles in the vessel.

- After straining what we get is crumbled paneer. Just rinse this crumbled paneer under running water once which is optional if your using yoghurt to curdle.

-When you use lemon for curdling rinsing under running water is important to get rid of lemon smell.

Step 4: Squeezing Excess Water

-Next step is to bring together the ends of muslin cloth and squeeze the excess water from it

Step 5: Flatten It and Place Heavy Weight

-Most important step is try to squeeze as much water as possible.

-Flatten the paneer with hands and place on plate and put some heavy weight on it and leave for 2 to 3 hours.

Step 6: Cut Them in to Cubes

-After 3 hours you can see a block of paneer.cut them in to cubes and enjoy in all dishes.

-You can refrigerate it in tight container.