A versatile grill cheese from Indian cuisine is paneer. It is baked or grilled in slices or cut into cubes, then served with salads, rice and chatnies. The cheese is precipitated from the milk not with rennet but with acid and salt mixed with it at high temperature. The Paneer variation described here is made with yogurt and apple cider vinegar because that's how I found my cheese to taste and texture the best.
Ingredients:
- 10 litres of milk (fresh homemade milk or store-bought "boxed")
- 1 litres yogurt (optional)
- 10 tsp white vinegar (apple or wine vinegar) or 1 tapped tablespoon of citric acid
- 10 tsp salt
Recipe for making paneer:
- I rinse the saucepan with cold water so that the milk burns less when heated.
- I pour the milk into it and heat it slowly. I keep stirring it so it doesn't burn! When it reaches a temperature of 90-95°C, I mix the yogurt and heat it until the yoghurt milk mixture reaches this temperature.
- When the yogurt milk is warm enough, I turn off the stove and slowly add salt and vinegar (or citric acid) with gentle movements.
- If it is made without yogurt, then more vinegar / citric acid is needed for flocculation.
- The protein contained in milk, precipitates under the influence of acid. This is a very spectacular process.
- If the yogurt is very sour, you will need less acid, but if you make it with sweeter, you will need to add more acid. I no longer put the lid back on it, but let the clot collect on top of the whey for 10-15 minutes.
- In this case, you must not stir anymore! I take it into cheese moulds and let it drip. Or you can put it in cheesecloth and hang it there to drip.
If I put it in a mould, I leave it for 1 hour, then press it hardly so that the cheese comes together well. The time of pressing is 3-4 hours with a weight of 2 times of the cheese. At this time, it can already be cut, sliced. The yogurt paneer is ready. Nicely grillable cheese with yogurt aroma is made with this method. It goes well with spinach, fresh salad, grilled vegetables, fruit sauce, jam. You can also season it with pepper, curry, herbs when making it. Or you can mix it with spinach, peas, etc. They are all very tasty. I store it in the refrigerator, it can be consumed fresh for 6-7 days.
It can even be made from store-bought milk.