[Sca-cooks] Paneer - was Re: Meat prices

[ranvaig at columbus.rr.com]

>
>I've been starting to explore some meat-free or meat-reduced cuisines.
>I've only got the one, little cookbook on curries and Indian
>(sub-continent) food, and would love to get a good cookbook for it.
>Does anyone have any recommendations? I'd like to know how to make
>paneer, for instance, which my little book doesn't touch on, although it
>has interesting things like instructions for making coconut milk, and
>various fresh spice blends. Mmmmmm.....
>--maire, making herself hungry and it's not even breakfast time yet! ;o)

To make paneer, look for NON homogenized milk, the kind with cream at the top.
It will make twice as much cheese and will taste better. 
Pasteurized milk is ok,
but homogenizing breaks up the fat, so it won't set cheese.

I take a half gallon of milk, add half a cup of yogurt with active cultures and
let it sit at a warm room temp for an hour or two.

Put it in a big pot, with room for it to bubble up, and heat to a boil.
Lower heat to a simmer and add 1/4 c fresh lemon juice, spoonful by spoonful.
Stir gently until you start seen clear whey in the pan. Don't add 
more lemon than necessary.

Rinse out a  piece of clean cotton or linen cloth, make sure there 
isn't any soap in it.
Fold it in half and line a colander with it. Put a bowl underneath to 
catch the whey.
Spoon the curds into the colander, then pour the whey thru the 
colander to catch
the small curds.

Gather the edges and let it drain for an hour.  Then put a weight on 
it for another hour.
I've done this over an open fire, at a living history demo.

You can drink the whey, dilute with water and add sugar or honey to taste.


I have collected Indian cook books for 30 years, for a long time I 
bought everything
I found, but there are a LOT of new ones out there.  I check them out 
from the library
but cant afford to buy them all any more.

My first Indian cookbook was The Art of Indian Cuisine by Pranati Sen 
Gupta, it is still the one I use the most.  It is no longer in print, 
but I found copies online.  (There is another book of the same name, 
I've never used that one).

I'd recommend anything by Madhur Jaffrey or Jack Santa Maria.

I also like Indian Cooking by Khalid Aziz,  because I like the 
pictures of every dish.

I'd suggest going to your local library and checking out what they 
have, read thru them and buy a copy of the one(s) you like most. 
There are lots of Indian recipes online too.


Ranvaig