I made cheese!

[magid]

I found a recipe for paneer that looked completely doable at home, requiring only milk and lemon/lime juice, no rennet or anything tricky like that. I got some milk from Jersey cows when I was out at the farm Friday, unable to resist the lure of fresh, local milk in glass bottles. I chose two half-gallons of whole milk, since I'd be able to get more cheese from whole milk than 2% (and somehow I had it in my head that I needed a whole gallon).

Last night I stopped by Tag's and got a nylon mesh bag for straining the curds (I wanted something reusable, rather than cheesecloth), and I was good to go.

So when it was finally cooling off (after dark), I started. I heated the milk, and kept getting nervous about boiling it, turning it down until I reminded myself that it was supposed to boil. As soon as it did, I turned down the heat, and poured in the juice of one fairly large lemon. The curds started separating out immediately. I stirred it for five minutes (really boring to do with no music on and no one to chat with), turned off the heat, and let it sit a few minutes more to let the curds get as large as possible before pouring it into the mesh bag. (I put the bag over my other milchig pot to catch the whey; it seems one can do the process again with the whey and get another batch of cheese.) I let the curds drain, and after a while twisted the bag to get more out.

And now I have paneer! Any suggestions for what to do with it?

For the record, half a gallon of whole milk resulted in a bit less than two fists-worth of cheese. (If I remember, I'll weigh it before I use it. edit: 9.3 ounces)

Comments

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

Saag Paneer?

Where is this farm of which you speak? I want fresh local milk!

[magid.livejournal.com]

No, just the paneer. I do have a big bag of saag in the fridge, which may well end up combined with it, though.

I went to Red Fire Farm, where I have a share, out in Granby, MA. They have things from other local farms, too, including a refrigerator case of things like milk, cheese, pickles, miso, and more, including milk from Mapleline Farm.

Here's a list of Massachusetts dairy farms. None are really close, but some aren't that far, either (Sharon might be the closest to you).

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

I assumed "Saag Paneer" was the suggestion of what to do with paneer. 'Cause that was my suggestion too.

But personally, when it comes to saag, I'd just as soon leave out the paneer (and add potatoes for saag aloo(?))

[magid.livejournal.com]

Saag aloo looks nice too.

Do you not like paneer? Or just not with spinach?

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

I haven't had much paneer. I don't dislike it, it's just that a lot of times I tend to prefer other options.

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was a suggestion. And yes, saag aloo!

[magid.livejournal.com]

Got it.

So far I've been pretty happy with any Indian food I can get my hands on :-)

[cutieperson]

we did that recently with this recipe :)

i suggest making saag to toss it in. or a curry.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I saw your post (not long after one in food_porn, too); must be cheese-making season :-).

Did you end up using the salt? How much? And did you try the cumin? (I didn't use either, and it's definitely bland, but I figure if I'm cooking it in something else, it should be fine. I hope.)

I have a bunch of spinach from last week's share, so I have vague thoughts about sag paneer, but I tend to be very lazy about pureeing things (and don't have most of the other ingredients), so I may just go with a curry.

(I haven't eaten nearly enough Indian food to feel comfortable playing around with cooking it, unfortunately.)

[cutieperson]

interesting. that's a way different recipe than the saag we made.

we used the salt and cumin amounts that they recommended and it definitely made a difference. for our second batch i think we nearly doubled the cumin.

[magid.livejournal.com]

My Indian co-worker forwarded the link to me; it's by the same person whose paneer recipe I used, so I suspect it's pretty good. I'm not surprised there's tons of variations, though.

I've got the other half gallon to turn into cheese; I'm definitely trying the salt and cumin this time!

[library-sexy.livejournal.com]

Would the Cuisinart still be neutral with this? That would do the trick very quickly.....this all sounds very yummy.

(It is not that hard to wash)

[magid.livejournal.com]

If I cook the spinach in a pareve pot, I could use my food processor, but I find that incredibly difficult to get fully clean when washing by hand (which is why I've avoided pureeing anything sauteed, because the oil would be even trickier). There's one or two stupid design bits in this model. The (dairy) blender is much easier to clean (um, unless I gave it to someone... I don't remember now), but probably won't puree enough.

I did some more looking around, and found another recipe that doesn't puree the spinach, just has it chopped up finely before cooking, which I may go with.

[rethought.livejournal.com]

Make a Sag Paneer curry!

:)

(That's the only thing I do with homemade cheese, so I'll be interested to see what you end up doing with it. I'd make it more often if I thought of other options.)

[magid.livejournal.com]

It's the popular choice!

My problem is that I've rarely eaten Indian food, much less cooked it, so it's a bit intimidating (grinding lots of spices, lots of pureeing, and so on, in addition to different ingredients) to think of doing at home. (OK, plus, yesterday and today are 95+ degrees F, which makes me so much less inclined to experiment in the kitchen. It's supposed to cool down tomorrow, thankfully.)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Oh, and one of my wholly uninformed ideas was to make some kind of impromptu pizza, spicing the cheese some and adding lots of veggies (or making saag paneer pizza :-).

[alandd.livejournal.com]

There's nothing wrong with ANY kind of pizza. ;-)

(Not that I'm in favor of cruelty to veggies, but that's sort of beside the point... I'm more of a "cheese & sauce" pizza guy.)

[magid.livejournal.com]

*grin*

Well, the cheese doesn't really melt, so it wouldn't be a regular sort of pizza anyway. That's why I started thinking Indian pizza thoughts.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia has a few ideas for other uses, btw.

[dalbino83.livejournal.com]

Saag paneer, of course! My favorite Indian dish. Let me know what time to come on over. :)

[magid.livejournal.com]

*grin*

Apparently it's everyone's favorite :-)

Not sure that I can face any non-obligatory cooking tonight, though, so more likely Friday dinner.

[dalbino83.livejournal.com]

I've got class tonight at Simmons, so you're off the hook. I'll eat at the deli in Whole Foods. They probably don't have saag paneer, darn it.

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

Sometimes they have Indian prepared foods in the salad bar area. ;)

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Topping for egg dishes? (I like cheese with scrambled eggs or omelets.)

Mix with various herbs and spices to put on bread or crackers? I think that's something my mom would do when she made yogurt cheese. Or roll it in nuts.

Addition to sandwiches?

Also, for Indian cooking, you can usually buy the spices already grinded up. It doesn't seem any more intimidating to me than any other recipes, not that I use recipes much.

[magid.livejournal.com]

It's not cheese that melts, apparently, so I want to use it in ways that don't get me expecting stringiness. Eggs may work.

I don't think it'll mix well, though, unlike yogurt cheese; too crumbly to make an herbed spread, though slices with herbs put on top might work. Nuts wouldn't stick to the outside either.

I don't make sandwiches enough :-) I should remember that. Making sandwiches before there are good tomatoes is more of a challenge, anyway.

I have a bunch of already-ground spices. My impression was that it's much more (authentic/ pungent/ whatever) if they're toasted together whole in oil/ghee before grinding. But I could be less authentic and more accomplished by just relying on the pre-ground (or looking for the recipes that keep spices whole, as the seasoning panch phoron is).

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Ah, crumbly, non-melty cheese. Hmm. (I wonder if you put herbs into the milk next time?)

I've never done the toast-then-grind method of Indian cooking - and I think even the Indian cookbook I have doesn't talk much about that, but it's focused on getting meals onto the table quickly, so uses spices/mixes that are pretty much ready to go.

use for crumbly cheese

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Oh, duh: salad topping! Of course that doesn't use huge quantities of cheese, either. (I used to put feta cheese in my eggs, and while it doesn't get stringy like some cheeses do, it would soften and get kind of oozy and that was fine, too. Though I don't know if this saag stuff is anything like feta.)

[gingicat]

Probably any dish that would work with feta would work with paneer, though it sounds like your first batch isn't as strongly flavored as feta. It sounds terrific for crumbling over salad, actually.

[magid.livejournal.com]

It's pretty bland, actually, so if I put it in salad, I'll have to put some strong flavors in to compensate.

[cellio]

My favorite is matar (not saag) paneer.

Hmm, Dani's going to be away for a few days and he doesn't like the stuff, and you've just told me how to make paneer... yup, got a project coming up. :-)

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've never had matar paneer; it looks yummy too. Too bad I already used up the peas I picked Friday!

I look forward to reading about your results :-)

[(Anonymous)]

Many years ago, I made paneer in just the same way!

[magid.livejournal.com]

Cool!

Any reason you haven't done it more recently?

[(Anonymous)]

It really was cool to read last night your description of having made cheese in just the same way I had so long ago!

I haven't avoided making it since then or anything; I just simply haven't.

I made it then in order to make stuffed parathas. They were not very complicated to prepare, not even for a teenager who had rarely eaten and never cooked Indian food. I remember that frying the mustard seeds was exciting.

You could add paneer cubes to many of the Indian vegetable or bean dishes that you like.

You could mash the paneer, add seasoning to your liking, form into patties, and fry.

One of my favorite Indian dishes is malai kofta, which are vegetable balls served in a creamy sauce. Paneer can be an ingredient, but it is not exactly showcased.

The Persian version of paneer isn't bland; it is salted and can be eaten without being cooked into another dish. It is sometimes stored in the liquid, an idea that reminds me of your preserved lemons. That might be a better choice, it seems, for use in eggs, on bread, and atop salads. I bet it would be nice, especially on Purim, with cucumber, walnuts, or pomegranate.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Lots of food for thought (as it were :-) in there. I think the next batch of paneer will be less bland, if I go with Bbbsg's suggestions for salt and a bit of cumin.

I was rather lame last night, unable to face cooking anything, despite the glories of having cheese I'd made and fresh veggies from the farm... and ended up eating some of the paneer plain.

[(Anonymous)]

You are most welcome! Thanks for the thanks and for inspiring all the food-thinking. Salted and with cumin sounds delightful.

Often I can't face even a small amount of preparation. How did you like the plain paneer?

I was thinking further about the stuffed parathas. The filling not only could be good on its own but also could work well with your Indian pizza idea; the other main ingredients are tomato and spinach.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Salted and with cumin still sounds good, but I was in too much of a rush this morning before work to do it (starting bread dough, finishing jam, starting a salad, and making cheese was a little bit more than I should've tried to fit in before work, except that I hadn't done anything towards Shabbat food last night). Next time, bli neder.

Plain paneer tastes like slightly... squeakier, condensed farmer's cheese. I loved farmer's cheese growing up, but had it rarely, so I rather liked it. Though I admit that I wasn't being the most discriminating eater at the time.

The filling sounds good for either thing. I'll keep it in mind for future cooking.