Paneer is the most common form of cheese used in India. It is a simple farmer’s cheese (meaning it is made by pressing liquid out of curds) that is unaged and acid set. I have always been particularly fond of Indian dishes containing Paneer and with a little research discovered the process to make it is quite simple. So I gave it a try!

All of the recipes I reviewed were remarkably similar: boil milk, add lemon juice or vinegar, continue boiling until curds have formed, then strain and press out remaining moisture. The active time to boil the milk and watch the curds is certainly under half an hour. But watch that milk like a hawk – you don’t want milk scum all over your stove top – yuck! The recipe follows.

Ingredients:

• 1 L milk (I used 2% b/c it is what I had)
• juice of 1 lemon

1. In a large pot over medium heat bring the milk to a boil.
2. Once milk is boiling, add lemon juice.
3. Continue boiling until curds have formed – about 5-10 minutes to ensure all have formed. The liquid (the whey) will be yellow/greenish. That is OK.
4. Pour the contents into a strainer, preferable lined with a cheesecloth or clean dishtowel. You can catch the whey in a bowl if you want to use it later.
5. Hang the towel with the cheese to let it continue straining out liquid. The range I read for this process was anywhere from 1 hour to 6 hours. I think I left my cheese in the towl about 3 hours and it was *very* dry afterwards.
6. Remove from towel and use or refrigerate until use. The photo above of the cheese is immediately after I removed it from the towel.