Cuisine of India
I took a class tonight on Indian food, which brought to mind my failed attempts at paneer last year. It was grim; the first batch didn’t make curds (turns out Organic Valley milk is ultra-pasteurized) and the second batch set up curd but I accidentially dumped half of it in the sink. Then, when I did finally have my tiny little pile of paneer, it stuck in a cinematic fashion to my non-nonstick pan. What a disaster! The spinach dish I made to put it in was to die for, however. If I find the link I will add it later.
There was no paneer making tonight — so the mystery of how one can thriftily and successfully make paneer at home is still to be solved. And of course every set of instructions I have read about it stresses how easy it is. Well, let me be the first to admit in public that I failed at making paneer; it really isn’t that easy.
I have an article due on winter salads, so tomorrow I will putzing around in the kitchen and doing research. I’ve come up with a really tasty spinach salad with fennel, toasted almonds, and a light orange vinaigrette. I am working on a roasted butternut squash with Moroccan spices salad-esque dish as well. I may also play around with some watercresss. . . Honestly, sometimes I think I have the best job in the world.
The picture has nothing to do with anything, other than we are in the “Deep Midwinter” here, and it was nice to eat spicy food and think about warmer climes. . .
Filed under: International Food | 2 Comments
Tags: food writing, paneer
I sympathize. Paneer isn’t as easy as everyone makes it sound, but once you get it, it really is. Here’s how I do it: http://tiffinbox.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/paneer/
Some suggestions: use a thick-bottomed pan (try a hard-anodized one), and one of those large square-ish sieve colanders. Keep stirring the milk, almost constantly, otherwise it burns and the paneer will taste nasty. If it does “catch” on the bottom, and it almost certainly will, don’t scrape the bottom while stirring but stir gently above the bottom of the pan. Turn it off and add the buttermilk as soon as the milk starts to boil, and keep stirring the whole time. I use a little more than a quart of buttermilk for a gallon of milk, and I’ve had no success with anything short of full-fat milk. But once I’ve navigated all the hurdles successfully, I’m left with lots of really soft and delicious paneer. I usually vacuum-seal and freeze some. Do give it another go.
Just as a note, I recently tried making paneer with 2% milk and it turned out well. So it works