This curd go either whey.

Have you ever made your own cheese?


Neither have I.     Why would we? 


Cheese is available in countless varieties at the nearest grocery store... Though not every cheese is in the dairy case, as I recently found out. It started with some great Indian take-out that came home the other day. It was a vegiterian dish called paneer saag, made of curry spinach in cream with chunks of fried cheese. It was delicious, and prompted me to attempt it in my humble kitchen. I was going to make saag with chicken but decided at the last minute that paneer was easy enough after a friend lent me an Indian cookbook.

It turns out paneer is so simple you could make it by accident. It's composed of only whole milk, and some acid. Using “thinner” milk like 2% or skim just won't work; you need the fat and protein that whole milk contains. I'm going to try half&half for my next batch; I'll let you know how that goes. For a reasonable batch, (double what you seen in the pictures) pour a half gallon of whole milk into a pan. Heat slowly to a boil, stirring to avoid scalding the bottom. When the milk begins to boil, kill the heat. While stirring, add a tablespoon or two of acid to curdle the milk.  I used apple cider vinegar, but the recipe suggested lemon juice. 

The curds will separate from the whey as you stir, completely separating in a minute or so. Pour the curds and whey into a cheesecloth lined strainer and run some cold water through the cheese to rinse. Fold the corners of the cloth over and gently press out as much of the whey as you can, then form the cheese edges into a block. 

Now you'll want to find a weight to finish the job.

I happen to have a blue glass bowl in my Batterie de cuisine that works wonderfully in tandem with my metal strainer. When placed inside and filled with water, it worked perfectly as a cheese press. When placed underneath the strainer it provides adequate drainage room to separate solid from liquid and retain both. I really love this bowl, and it seems to be the perfect size (2.5 qt.) for most tasks. It's the bowl I use for measuring flour into for doughs, making salsa, and whipping up pancake batter. I actually acquired it in a friend's split with his girlfriend; they made up but I got to keep the parting gift!  They don't make it any more, but I see them all over ebay for less that ten bucks.

Back to cheese. Paneer is a non-melting cheese, as such it browns up nicely when pan fried. When I removed my block of cheese from the cloth, it had a firm tofu-like texture. I cut it into cubes and fried in some butter until golden, then added the cheese to my saag. Being a fresh cheese, it soaked up the curry flavor of the sauce wonderfully! The saag was a big hit; not bad for my first go at it. The riata cooling sauce I made was a bit heavy on the onion, but nobody's perfect. I finished the meal with fruit-nut naan that was pretty good, but needs tweaking too. I've just begun to experiment with Indian cuisine, and practice makes perfect. 

It looks like it's back to the olde cutting board for me.