Have you been tempted to make cheese, but haven't gotten around to buying the correct cultures or equipment? Thankfully there's a range of cheeses you can easily make with what you already have.
One of my favourite is paneer cheese.
All you need is full-cream milk, lemon or lime juice (or vinegar), and some muslin cloth (or an old thin cotton pillow slip or a well loved t-shirt).
Paneer Cheese Recipe
Pour around one litre of milk into a heavy based saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring occasionally, ensuring the milk doesn't burn. Once the milk reaches boiling point gradually add around 2-3 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice (or half that if you are using vinegar) and gently stir.
The milk will instantly start curdling, with the whey seperating from the curd. Turn off the heat and leave to stand for around 20 minutes.
Drain the whey from the curd by pouring into a strainer lined with muslin (or the old thin cotton t-shirt or pillow slip).
Keep the leftover whey – it's high in protein. I use it in smoothies, instead of milk in baking and in fermented porridge.
Wrap the curds in the muslin cloth, rinse under cold water, and squeeze well.
To take out the excess water, press the wrapped paneer under a heavy pan. Around an hour later you have fresh paneer.
Easy!
We enjoy paneer either sliced and pan fried or in Palak (Spinach) Paneer.
Do you know any good paneer-using recipes?
