As Mary-Ellen McTague pointed outin this magazine a couple of weeks ago, cheese-making involves afew basic things: milk, heat, rennet or acid, and time. But in the case of an unaged cheese such as paneer, the alchemy could not be simpler or quicker. Kit-wise, you need a heavy-based saucepan, awooden spoon, a colander, a clean J-cloth or muslin, and something to weigh down the cheese in the fridge; ingredients-wise, you need only cows' milk and an acid such as lemon juice or white-wine vinegar; and time-wise you need about half an hour near the stove, two hours for the curds to harden in the fridge, and up to two weeks to eat it at its best.
Paneer, like queso blanco, some ricotta and most fresh goat's cheese, is curdled by the addition of an acid other than rennet. Whereas rennet creates a structure within the cheese that is weakened by heat, the acid causes the proteins to stick together. When an acid curd is heated, it's the water that is boiled away, so, rather than melting, as a rennet-curdled cheese would, the cheese gets drier and stiffer as the proteins are concentrated even further.
The lack of ageing means that one batch tastes much like another, unlike the variations so prevalent in other cheeses. That said, there are differences in the way you cook it, and with what. You can add whole or crushed spices to the mixture when it first goes in to the J-cloth for the curds to be pressed. Rosemary, thyme and oregano work well together, as do black pepper and roasted cumin and ajwain seeds. Dicing and frying the paneer, so that it is crisp on the outside and meltingly soft on the inside, before adding it to a curry or stir-fry is perhaps the classic way to cook it, but you can also stuff it into red peppers due to be baked; I also like it roughly grated and sautéed in oil or ghee with cumin seeds, chopped onion, ginger, tomatoes and green chilli – served with rotis or naan, that's a lovely five-minute supper.
Paneer
Just two simple ingredients to make something so satisfying: a personal record, I think you'll agree. Thanks to food writer Maunika Gowardhan for persuading me to make my own paneer. Makes about 170g, or enough to feed two to four.
1 litre whole milk
2 tbsp lemon juice
Line a large sieve with two clean J-cloths and place in the sink. Pour the milk into a medium, heavy-based saucepan and turn the heat to medium-low. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes, so the milk comes slowly to a boil – resist the temptation to turn up the heat. As the milk nears a boil, keep an eye on it and, as it starts to rise in the pan, stir in a tablespoon of lemon juice. As the milk starts to split, add the remaining lemon juice and cook, stirring continuously, until you have a solid and a liquid: the curd and whey.
Pour the contents of the saucepan into the lined sieve, and leave the whey to drain away. Run cold water over the curd to rinse off excess whey, then draw together the J-cloths to form a bag around the curd and squeeze tightly to remove any moisture – you should end up with something resembling a wrapped ball. Flatten the package alittle on a large plate, then place something heavy on top – another heavy pan, say, or a few tins of food. Refrigerate for at least two hours, until all the liquid has been squeezed out and the curd has set. Keep the paneer wrapped in the J-cloths, cover with cling-film, and keep in the fridge for up to two weeks.
Braised eggs with potato and paneer
This is great with crusty ciabatta or athick flatbread. Serves six.
2 medium waxy potatoes, peeled and cut widthways into 1.5cm slices – about 550g net weight
1½ tsp ground turmeric
Salt
75ml olive oil
2 medium onions, peeled and thinlysliced
1½ tsp caraway seeds
1 large green chilli, deseeded (unless you want it spicy) and thinly sliced
2 medium green peppers, deseeded and cut lengthways into 0.5 cm strips
3 bunches spring onions, trimmed and cut on an angle into 1cm pieces
300ml vegetable stock
10g picked parsley leaves, chopped
10g picked tarragon leaves, chopped
170g paneer (homemade or shop-bought), broken into 2cm chunks
6 large eggs
Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6. Fill a saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes, ateaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of turmeric, cook for 10 minutes, until the potatoes are almost done, then drain, refresh and set aside.
Pour two tablespoons of oil into asauté pan on a medium-high heat and fry the onions for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until starting to soften. Add the caraway and the remaining turmeric, fry for five minutes, then turn down the heat to medium, add the chilli and peppers and fry for five minutes, to soften. Turn the heat back up to medium-high, add two more tablespoons of oil, and stir in the potatoes, spring onions and a teaspoon and a quarter of salt. Cook for five minutes, so the potatoes brown a little, then add the stock. Bring to a boil and cook rapidly, stirring, to reduce the liquid to six tablespoons – this will take about four minutes. Take the pan offthe heat, stir in the fresh herbs and tip the lot into a 25cm-square gratin dish.
Dot the paneer over the top, thenuse a large spoon to make six indentations in the veg mixture and break an egg into each. Drizzle over the final tablespoon of oil, cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for five to10 minutes more, until the whitesare set but the yolks are still runny. Remove from the oven, rest for five minutes and serve hot
Paneer paratha
This crisp flatbread, stuffed with spices, onion and paneer, is awelcome accompaniment to any curry, but it's also a snack in its own right. Amchur is a wonderfully sharp and fruity powder made from dried, unripe mangoes, and is used to add acidity. Buy it from specialist Indian food stores and online, but if you can't get any substitute with a few drops of vinegar. These parathas are best served as soon as they're made. Serves four (two pieces each).
170g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
170g whole-wheat flour
½ tsp baking powder
Salt
About 120g ghee
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and finely crushed
2 tsp fennel seeds, toasted and finely crushed
1 tsp amchur powder
½ tsp ground turmeric
100g paneer (homemade or shop-bought), broken into 5mm chunks
10g picked coriander leaves, roughly chopped
In a bowl, combine the flours and baking powder with 180ml of water and half a teaspoon of salt, then knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for a couple of minutes, until smooth, adding a splash more water if required. Dust the bowl with a little flour, return the dough to the bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rest for 20 minutes.
Put a medium nonstick frying pan on a medium-high heat, melt 20g of ghee, then add the onion and sauté for 15 minutes, until caramelised and soft. Add the chilli, spices and aquarter-teaspoon of salt, cook, stirring, for a minute more then remove the pan from the heat. Once the mixture is cool, stir in the paneer and coriander and set aside.
Divide the dough into eight equal pieces and roll each into a ball. Dust a work surface with a little flour and use a rolling pin to flatten the balls into 12cm-diameter discs. Divide the onion mix into eight and spoon aportion into the centre of every disc. Draw up the edges of the dough discs to meet in the centre and wrap the filling inside. Seal the edges by pressing tightly with your fingers, making sure the filling is encased in the dough. Turn over, dust with a bit more flour and roll out each paratha again into a 14cm-diameter flat disc about 5mm thick.
Put a medium nonstick frying pan on a medium-high heat and add 10g of ghee. Once it starts to bubble, add one of the parathas and fry for 90 seconds on each side – the bread willpuff up, so press it down with afish slice. It should be golden-brown on both sides and cooked through. Remove from the pan and place on awire rack. Repeat with theremaining breads, adding more gheeas required. Serve at once.
Yotam Ottolenghi is chef/patron of Ottolenghi and Nopi in London.
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