Chilli Paneer - Indian Soft Cheese!
Paneer is a type of fresh, soft cheese and you can make it and eat it right away — no aging or culturing required. Common on the Indian subcontinent it is also one of the easiest cheeses to make at home. All you need is milk, lemon juice or vinegar, and a bit of salt to season. When you mix the milk and lemon juice, the acidity in the lemon juice will cause the milk to curdle and separate into curds and whey. Remove the whey, the liquid part by straining it and then press the curds, and you have a simple, basic soft cheese.
This soft cheese won’t melt or get gooey the way mozzarella or cheddar will, but with paneer, this is an advantage and as it won’t melt, we can stir chunks into a soup or curry, crumble it over a flatbreads, or even skewer cubes onto kebabs and the cheese will keep its shape and soft, chewy texture.
You can buy it in many places like large supermarkets as well as the Asian stores and will come in small blocks or in chunks or cubes. We cooked paneer yesterday, making this delicious chilli paneer that we had with a vegetable curry and chapattis. We eat a lot more vegetarian nowadays and eat little meat and then only chicken and sometimes fish - no red meat at all! Any vegetarians who eat cheese and milk will find that paneer is an excellent source of protein for their diet.
Chilli Paneer - Indian Soft Cheese!
Paneer is a type of fresh, soft cheese and you can make it and eat it right away — no aging or culturing required. Common on the Indian subcontinent it is also one of the easiest cheeses to make at home. All you need is milk, lemon juice or vinegar, and a bit of salt to season. When you mix the milk and lemon juice, the acidity in the lemon juice will cause the milk to curdle and separate into curds and whey. Remove the whey, the liquid part by straining it and then press the curds, and you have a simple, basic soft cheese.
This soft cheese won’t melt or get gooey the way mozzarella or cheddar will, but with paneer, this is an advantage and as it won’t melt, we can stir chunks into a soup or curry, crumble it over a flatbreads, or even skewer cubes onto kebabs and the cheese will keep its shape and soft, chewy texture.
You can buy it in many places like large supermarkets as well as the Asian stores and will come in small blocks or in chunks or cubes. We cooked paneer yesterday, making this delicious chilli paneer that we had with a vegetable curry and chapattis. We eat a lot more vegetarian nowadays and eat little meat and then only chicken and sometimes fish - no red meat at all! Any vegetarians who eat cheese and milk will find that paneer is an excellent source of protein for their diet.