How To Make Soft And Fluffy Paneer At Home

We get Paneer here at Indian grocery stores and I do buy it sometimes when I am in a rush or have to cook for a large batch. But more often that not, I prefer making paneer at home. And you should be doing the same! Because making paneer at home has several advantages.

* its fresh and free of preservatives
* you can make organic paneer at home using organic milk
* not to forget homemade paneer is soft & super delicious

Things you need to make paneer

Milk: use whole milk to get best results. You can make paneer using 2% milk also but if you want nice paneer cubes, I recommend using whole milk.

Curdling agent: which can either be vinegar or lemon juice or yogurt. I always use vinegar when I want firm block of paneer.

Method

- Add milk to a heavy bottom pan on medium heat.

- Let the milk come to a boil, stir often so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

- Once the milk has come to a boil, turn off the heat and start adding vinegar (or lemon juice), little at a time.

- At one point, the milk will curdle and you will see the whey separate. At that point, stop adding the curdling agent and wait for 5 minutes so that the milk curdles completely.

- Drain the curdled milk into a muslin cloth.

- Rinse the paneer with cold water so that the final paneer doesn’t have any taste of vinegar.

- Bring the ends of muslin cloth together and squeeze as much water as you can.

- Then flatten the paneer (wrapped inside the muslin cloth) and place it on a flat surface. Then place a heavy object on top for it to set.

- Placed a plate and then placed mortar & pestle on top. Leave it undisturbed for 1 to 2 hours.

- Once the paneer is set, remove it carefully from the muslin cloth and cut into cubes.