Title: Fresh North Indian Cheese (Paneer Chenna or Paneer Tikki)
Categories: Condiment
Yield: 1 Cup chenna

FLATBREADS & FLAVORS; ALFORD
2	qt	Milk; whole or 2%
6	tb	Juice, lemon

Place colander lined with 3-4 layers of cheesecloth over large bowl. Heat milk gradually to boiling in heavy nonreactive saucepan, stirring occasionally with wooden spoon tokeep it from scorching or forming a skin. Then lower heat to medium and add lemon juice 1 tb at a time, stirring gently with wooden spoon 15-20 seconds after adding each tb. The milk may turn with as little as 1 tb lemon juice per quart, but it may take more, so be patient; when it turns, the whiter curds will separate from the pale green whey, so both color and texture will change. As soon as milk starts to turn, remove from heat. Stir for another few seconds and then pour into cloth-lined colander.

Rinse briefly under slow-running cold water to remove lemon taste. Gather edges of cheesecloth together, squeeze out water, then knot together (or loop a rubber band around it) to create a bag you can hang from a hook. rinse out bown and place under cheesecloth bag to catch whey drips. After only 20 minutes, you will have a soft cheese, paneer chenna.

To make paneer tikki, take bag down but don't untie it, and flatten lump of chenna into 4" square. Leaving covered with cheesecloth, place it on plate or countertop and flatten with heavy weight to compless it into dense-textured cheese; we find it simplest to weight it with a bread board with water-filled saucepan on top. Press cheese for 2 hours. Remove from cheesecloth and use immediately, or store in plastic wrap in refrigerator.

Authors' comments: Paneer is fresh cheese made by souring hot milk with a little lemon juice and then pressing out the liquid until it becomes a firm mass. The process is simple and quick. The soft cheese produced after the whey has drained is called paneer chenna. It is used in desserts, and is an ingredient in a number of savory dishes. When paneer chenna is pressed under a heavy weight for an hour or two, it firms up and becomes paneer tikki, or wedge cheese, used commonly in north Indian dishes, such as paneer kari. Paneer tikki has little taste of its won, but it has a delightful texture. Unlike most cheeses, it keeps its firmness even when heated, rather than melting.

Nutritional information per serving: xx calories, x.x gm protein, xx mg cholesterol, xx gm carbohydrate, xx mg sodium, x.x gm fiber, x.x gm fat, x.x mg iron, xx mg calcium, xx% of calories from fat.

Tyops courtesy of Sylvia Steiger, SylviaRN (at) CompuServe (dot) com

From: Sylvia Steiger Date: 12-19-97 (18:46) The Once And Future Legend (1) Cooking

previous

next