I started making paneer at home more frequently when Mustafa Centre stopped stocking Amul paneer cubes intermittently. Although they were practically tasteless compared to homemade paneer, I always have a small bag in the freezer just in case the urgent need to make some paneer butter masala kicks in. When I make fresh paneer at home, I usually end up using it within the next day or two so the store-bought ones were good for storing away for a paneer emergency.
More amazing paneer recipes on Edible Garden:
How to Make Paneer
Ingredients
- 1 litre full fat milk
- 1/2 cup curd or buttermilk or 1/3 cup lime or vinegar
Instructions
- Pour 1 litre full fat milk into a pan. It's very important that you use full fat milk for making paneer since we are basically going to extract the milk solids and fats from it and separate the whey
- In this pictorial I have used lemon juice but have found that curd or buttermilk is more predictable so if you are a beginner, use that
- Bring the milk to a rolling boil and add the curdling agent - curd, buttermilk, lemon juice OR vinegar - any one of your choice
- Simmer for another 4-5 mins or until the milk has completely curdled. Keep stirring gently while this happens
- Once the milk has curdled, turn the heat off and transfer to a double layered cheesecloth (or use an Indian cotton towel), that's placed over a colander which is in turn placed over a bowl large enough to collect all the whey
- Once the whey has drained off completely, wrap the ends of the cheesecloth over the paneer. At this stage, if I use lime or lemon juice, I run the paneer under some water to remove the sourness of lemon. This is optional
- You need to place some weights over this cheesecloth-paneer bundle to make a firm block of paneer. I placed a plate over it so that the block gets uniformly pressed down.
- Then I put my stone pestle and mortar over it and topped that up with my granite chapati rolling stone.
- Leave the weights on for about 2-3 hours and you should have a firm block of paneer
- Refrigerate for an hour or so so it's easier to cut into cubes and use immediately or store in the freezer for later use
I used lemon to curdle the milk in this pictorial and you need about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of lemon juice. You can also use white vinegar instead of lemon. However, I have found the most consistency results when using buttermilk or curd so that’s the way to go, especially if you are new to making paneer at home.
Bring the milk to a rolling boil and add the lemon juice or vinegar. Simmer for another 2-3 mins until the milk has completely curdled. Keep stirring.
Remove from fire and transfer to a double layered cheesecloth (or use an Indian cotton towel – thorthu / thundu), that’s placed over a colander which is in turn placed over a bowl large enough to collect all the whey.
Once the whey has drained off completely..
Wrap the ends of the cheesecloth over the paneer (at this point, you can run this bundle under some running water to wash out any residual sourness from the lemon but this is optional)
You need to place some weights over this to make a firm block of paneer. I place a plate over it so that the block gets uniformly pressed down.
Then on goes my stone mortar..
.. topped off with my granite chapati stone. (You can use bags of beans, cookbooks, or anything that’s heavy and can be balanced over the pressed paneer)
Leave the weights on for about 2-3 hours and voila! You are left with fresh paneer!
Refrigerate for an hour before cutting into blocks.
What about the whey you ask? Well, you can use it to cook rice or any vegetables. Also add it to roti dough for super soft rotis. Another great way to use it up is to use it instead of lemon juice, vinegar, or buttermilk to curdle milk next time you make paneer. Store it in the fridge for up to a week.
The homemade paneer can be frozen for up to a month before use.
Check out how to make paneer in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Urdu etc by using the Google translate button in the sidebar.
Hi,
I feel bad now for using store-bought paneer for cooking. This is actually a doable thing, right? especially for a stay-at-home Mom. Your pictures have really inspired me. Next time, I make a paneer recipe, I'll make the paneer too. Thanks for the post.
Regarding Whey water. I remember my Mom used to make a drink with it. I think, she used to add sugar and a little cardamom powder to the whey and chill it. It used to taste awesome during those Summer school breaks back home in Kerala, when I was little.
Chandu
don't feel bad about not making your paneer at home 🙂 but yes, it's super easy and i usually go for homemade paneer than the store bought one although that's definitely useful for emergency paneer recipes.
hi thanks for step by step procedure…i appreciate your post for havin the A to Z info of paneer makin as well as storing details…have a nice weekend…!
Hi Nags,
Thanks very much for this. Do you have some advice about frying the cheese? Using your above recipe, it sounds like you must wait the two hours for the paneer to solidify in the fridge before frying?
Tom
when i make paneer at home, it turns out quite delicate and crumbly so i don't really fry it before using. you can do that though, just make sure you set something heavy on the cheese and drain it of all water and refrigerate it for a while before frying. good luck!
When you say full cream milk, is that what we call heavy cream in the United States. I actually thought that you meant full fat milk vs. low fat or fat free, but the comments lead me to believe you mean heavy cream. I have never seen a box of milk here in NY labeled full cream as I see in your post. I want to make paneer today. Another recipe called for 2 liters of milk to produce one cup of paneer. Thats a lot of milk for one cup of cheese. Hope someone reading is confident to answer my questions. thank you.
i meant full fat milk, we just call it full cream milk here. don't use cream for making paneer. and yes, you would need about 2 litres milk for making 1 cup paneer, roughly. a lot of it will go in whey. there's a reason why cheese is expensive 🙂
Thanks for such a very clear description with tips on how to make paneer at home. I always wanted to try, and finally this recipe was so clear i dared to do it at home. It worked to perfection..
Rajeev
Done it thanks
glad you like paneer made at home kadeeja. do try and let me know how your home made paneer turned out 🙂
your way you explain, the way blog perform. superb.
and of course crispy photos more than enough explanation.
keep it up naag.
(book marked in first sight)
kadeeja
Okay, now I see why to use full cream milk… Mine did not yield much curd but what I got I think will be very good. Monte
I am about to try it here in a few minutes although I am only going to use whole milk as opposed to full cream milk. I'll let y'all know how it comes out. I have mastered the yogurts. Ha ha ha. Monte