Paneer also called Cottage Cheese is used to prepare lots of delicious dishes in Indian Cuisine. I have shared a very simple method for How to make paneer at home / Homemade Paneer Recipe with step by step pics, a short YouTube video and lots of tips. Usually, I prepared some paneer dishes, at least once in a week as both my kids love it. I never used to buy paneer from stores as it is fully loaded with preservatives for longer shelf life and it’s quite expensive too. If you are worried about that paneer prepared in home breaks when cooking, just knead it with little cornflour and slice it the next day. Please read the recipe till the end to know more details……
Find my other Paneer recipes like
1. Paneer Butter Masala
2. Restaurant Style Chilli Paneer
3. Palak Paneer Recipe
4. Paneer Fried Rice
5. Paneer Tikka Recipe
How to make Paneer | Homemade Paneer Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 Litre Milk
- 1.5 tbsp Lemon Juice
Instructions
- First measure and keep milk - lemon juice by side. To a heavy bottomed pan / non - stick pan, pour the milk. Then boil the milk in medium flame.
- Stir it now and then to prevent burning at the bottom. When the milk rises, add lemon juice.
- When the milk starts to curdle, switch off the heat immediately. (Don't cook further, otherwise, the paneer turns hard).The curd starts to float on top and the whey water separates. (If it does not get curdled, pour little more lemon juice at regular intervals). Allow it to settle down for a 1 minute. Place a strainer over a wide bowl and line it with a thin cloth/cotton cloth or muslin cloth. Then pour the milk solids.
- Gather the cloth together and gently squeeze the extra whey water. The collected curds are the chenna, which is used to make rasagulla. Pour water over the chenna, rinse it well, to remove the lemon flavour and taste.
- Squeeze again gently to remove the excess water.
- Place the cloth with chenna in a wide plate. Shape them into rectangle / square shape and fold the cloth tightly to get neat shape. Then place a heavy object over the shaped paneer for 1/2 an hour to set. Now open the cloth and the paneer is ready. You can even place the paneer in chilled water for 2 hours to get better texture. Refrigerate it immediately, as it makes the paneer firm and to avoid spoiling.
- Cut it into desired shape and size, when needed. I sliced the paneer the next day, so it was firm and it did not crumble at all.Use this Homemade paneer to prepare kadai paneer recipe.
Video
Notes
Tips for How to make Paneer
- Use fresh and full-fat milk to get more volume of paneer. Don't use skimmed milk.
- Lemon juice can be replaced with the same quantity of vinegar or 1/4 cup of curd.
- While boiling milk, stir it occasionally in the middle, else it gets burnt at the bottom and the paneer smells bad. Also, boil the milk in medium flame only.
- Always switch off the flame immediately, when the curdling starts, else the paneer turns hard.
- If the milk doesn't get curdled, add little more lemon juice. But don't add too much as it makes the paneer hard.
- Also, rinse the chenna well to remove the lemony taste and flavour.
- If using curd, no need to rinse. Also, curd lends more softness to the homemade paneer recipe.
- The remaining whey water can be used to make soft chapati / roti or phulka.
- Also, this whey water can be used to prepare the next batch of paneer. But refrigerate it till use.
- The shelf life of this paneer is 5 days under refrigeration.
Method for Homemade Paneer Recipe
1. First, measure and keep milk – lemon juice by side. To a heavy-bottomed pan/non – stick pan, pour the milk. Then boil the milk in medium flame.
2. Stir it now and then to prevent burning at the bottom. When the milk rises, add lemon juice.
3. When the milk starts to curdle, switch off the heat immediately. (Don’t cook further, otherwise, the paneer turns hard). The curd starts to float on top and the whey water separates. (If it does not get curdled, pour little more lemon juice at regular intervals). Allow it to settle down for a 1 minute. Place a strainer over a wide bowl and line it with a thin cloth/cotton cloth or muslin cloth. Then pour the milk solids.
4. Gather the cloth together and gently squeeze the extra whey water. The collected curds are the chenna, which is used to make rasagulla. Pour water over the chenna, rinse it well, to remove the lemon flavour and taste.
5. Squeeze again gently to remove the excess water. If the paneer breaks in gravy when cooking, knead it with 1 tbsp of cornflour, at this stage. If you shape the paneer with your wet palms, it holds the shape firmly, the rest of the steps are the same.
6. Place the cloth with chenna in a wide plate. Shape them into rectangle / square shape and fold the cloth tightly to get a neat shape. Then place a heavy object over the shaped paneer for 1/2 an hour to set. Now open the cloth and the paneer is ready. You can even place the paneer in chilled water for 2 hours to get a better texture. Refrigerate it immediately, as it makes the paneer firm and to avoid spoiling.
7. Cut it into desired shape and size, when needed. I sliced the paneer the next day, so it was firm and it did not crumble at all.
Use this Homemade paneer to prepare kadai paneer recipe.
Homemade Paneer Recipe
Welcome to my blog www.asmallbite.com. Thanks for reading my blog! I hope you’re enjoying my recipes to make the taste forever. I am Priya Santhamohan, writer and photographer (with hubby’s help) of this blog. 
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