Interesting Things You Can Make Out of Milk
As mentioned, this will be the first episode in this series, and as such I have decided to call it:
Interesting Things You Can Make Out of Milk - Episode 1: Cottage Cheese/Paneer
Yes, that is correct. Today I will be showing you how to make delicious home-made cheesey things. I bet you never thought you'd be able to make cheese in your own kitchen eh? Well, you can't. But you can make delicious cheesey things which are quite like cheese, and closely related to cheese, but I'm afraid you'll probably never make anything resembling cheddar. Nevertheless, as a jolly little experiment with distinctly edible - nay, even delicious - results, this recipe is definitely worth a try. It only takes about 20 minutes as well, which is quite cool.
So, to make my curd cheese/cottage cheese/paneer recipe, you will need:
- 1 litre full cream milk
- EITHER Some yoghurt OR half a lemon
- Salt
- Pepper
- Herbs (chives, dill, parsley, whatever)
- Spices (caraway might be nice actually, or chilli, or cumin perhaps. I don't know - get creative!)
- Olive oil
When the milk is boiling, put it down to a medium heat, pour in your acidulant (yoghurt or lemon juice), and stir continually until the solid white curdss have completely separated out leaving a thin, yellowish, watery whey behind.
If it doesn't seem to be curdling completely, and the whey still looks a little creamy, just add a little more yoghurt or lemon juice until the curds and whey are completely separated.
Once you've got your curds and whey, strain off the whey by lining a sieve with muslin/cheesecloth/a clean napkin and pour the lot through. In theory you can use the whey to make ricotta, or even just have it as a peculiar farty-tasting drink, but I have never bothered with either of these so I can't really recommend you keep the whey for anything.
If you used lemon juice to curdle your cheese, you need to run plenty of cold water over the curds now to take away the citrus taste (trust me - lemon cheese is not an experiment worth conducting). Even if you used yoghurt, this is a good way to cool down the curds quickly.
And there you have it - basic cottage cheese. It's not quite like the one you buy in the supermarket - you'll find it's firmer, drier, milkier tasting and with smaller curds, but it's very delicious and nutritious, and you can do with it whatever you might do with ordinary cottage cheese. However, at this stage there are a couple of other things you can to do to create slightly different effects.
First of all, you'll probably want to salt it. Tip the curds out into a bowl, break them into fine chunks, and sprinkle over a teaspoon or so of salt, according to taste. Apart from making it keep better, the salt will really bring out the cheesey taste to the curds, and at this stage it will be reminiscent of ricotta or some other very fresh, mild cheeses. If you want to add any other flavourings - herbs and whatnot - do so now. I opted for plain flavour - just salted.
If you want your cheese in a firm block that you can slice, return the curds to your cheesecloth, gather the ends together and twist to squeeze out more of the whey. Once it's pretty firm and dry, carefully unwrap and tip out onto a plate or into a container.
Delicious!
The final thing you can do with your curds is to make paneer - that firm, mild, white Indian cheese that can be found in some vegetarian curries and dishes from India and Bangladesh. To make paneer, fold your cheese ball into a little parcel with the cheesecloth and place a heavy weight on top - a couple of tins of beans, or a large book - and leave to press and drain for anything from 3 hours to overnight. It shold then be firm enough to cut into cubes and be used for cooking.
And that, my friends, is how to make cheese(ish)!
Tune in again soon for the next thrilling installment in Interesting Things You Can Make Out of Milk!
Love,
Genghis
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