This week we show you a classic recipe: homemade fresh cheese or paneer. It is so easy to make you will be surprised! And it is so delicious that you will not crave packaged aged cheeses again! Once you learn how to make the fresh paneer, you can make innumerable savory and sweet dishes out of it. This week we show you a very quick and delicious paneer dessert!
Fresh Paneer
You may make as little (1 quart) or as much (1 gallon or more) of paneer. If this is your first time, you may want to start with smaller quantities to be more comfortable. Try to get the best milk possible: raw milk (if it is available in your area) is the best; next you can have pasteurized but non-homogenized milk (this is more readily available in many states across the country). Non-homogenized milk is less processed and will have cream top. Its fat molecules are not broken down and it is easier to digest and more delicious. Last option is pasteurized homogenized milk, but try to get at least the organic kind, and avoid the “flash” pasteurized products. You will need:
- milk
- 1-3 fresh limes
- a cheese cloth and a large strainer
- f you don’t use the cheese cloth then you will need a small tea-strainer
Directions:
Bring the milk to a boil and lower the heat. Squeeze in the lime juice 1/2 a lime at a time. You want to lime juice to break/curdle the milk, so the milk solids separate from the whey. Depending on how much the lime has and how acidic it is, sometimes you will need more other times less. That’s why you take it 1/2 a lime at a time. After adding the lime mix it in with clean spoon to see if your milk is broken, if it is not, add more lime water. When you get a totally clear yellowish whey liquid (no clouding at all) then your paneer is ready to be strained. Pour it either into your cheese cloth or strain it out with your small tea strainer and store in a bowl. Depending on whether you want it dry to be able to cube it, or a little moist and crumbly, you may leave in some whey water. While it is ideal to make this fresh every time you want to consume it, it may also be refrigerated for up to 4-5 days for consumption.
SVA Fresh Sweet Paneer Dessert
This can only be made with freshly made paneer as it is easier to digest when the protein molecule are not fully bonded and hardened yet when the paneer is still fresh and warm.
The proportions are easy. For 1 person:
2 tablespoons fresh panner
2 tsp raw unheated honey
1 pinch of organic nutmeg powder
Mix in the all the ingredients thoroughly and enjoy!
