Paneer
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Paneer (Hindi: पनीर panīr, from Persian پنير panir) is the most common Persian and South Asian cheese. It is an unaged, acid-set, non-melting farmer cheese made by curdling heated milk with lemon juice or other food acid. The process is similar to queso blanco, except that paneer does not have salt added.
Most varieties of paneer are simply pressed into a cube and then sliced or chopped, although the eastern variety (known as ছানা chhana in Bengali and ଛେନା chhena in Oriya) is beaten or kneaded like mozzarella, and crumbles more easily than the North and South Indian variants of paneer. Paneer is one of the few types of cheese indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, and is widely used in Indian cuisine and even some Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian cuisine. Unlike most cheeses in the world, the making of paneer does not involve rennet, and is therefore completely vegetarian. Paneer is a primary source of protein for Buddhists (typically those of Southeast Asian origin) who adhere to vegetarian as opposed to vegan diets.
Firm tofu has a similar texture and consistency so it can be used in place of paneer as a non-dairy substitute.
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[edit] Preparation
Paneer is a protein-rich food. To prepare paneer, food acid (usually lemon juice, vinegar, or yogurt) is added to hot milk to separate the curds from the whey. The curds are then drained in a muslin cloth or cheesecloth and excess water is pressed out. Next, the obtained paneer is dipped in chilled water for 2-3 hours to give it a good texture and appearance.
From this point, the preparation of paneer diverges based on its use. In Mughlai cuisine, the paneer-cloth is put under a heavy weight, such as a stone slab, for 2-3 hours, and is then cut into cubes for use in curries. Pressing for a shorter time (approximately 20 minutes), results in a softer, fluffier cheese. Oriya cuisine and Bengali cuisine demand paneer-dough produced by beating or kneading the paneer by hand into a dough-like consistency.
[edit] Surati Paneer
The Surati Paneer, made in the region around Surat in Gujarat, is a variant of paneer made by draining the curd and ripening them in whey for 12 to 36 hours.
[edit] Mughlai cuisine
A part of Mughlai cuisine, Paneer is the only type of cheese traditionally used in Indian cuisine. The ruling aristocracy in the second millennium AD was of Turkic, (Central Asian), and Persian origin, and it was they who introduced paneer to India. As a result, in large parts of East India, paneer is an aspirational food, and defines sumptuousness in vegetarian feasts. It is very popular when wrapped in dough and deep-fried or served with either spinach (palak paneer) or peas (matar paneer).
[edit] Eastern Indian cuisine
In Bangladesh and eastern India, two kinds of cheese are commonly found: ponir (a hard paneer) and chhana or chhena (a soft paneer). Ponir is a salty semi-hard cheese made in villages across Bangladesh, and Orissa and West Bengal in India. Its sharp flavor and high salt content contrasts with the softer, milder chhana/chhena. Ponir is typically eaten in slices at teatime with biscuits or bread, or deep-fried in a light batter.
While Mughlai cuisine uses paneer in spicy curry dishes, the use of chhana in Oriya cuisine or Bengali cuisine is mostly restricted to sweetmeats, for which this region is renowned. Most Oriya and Bengali sweets feature chhana beaten by hand into dough-like consistency and then used in crafting the sweetmeat. The rasgulla is the classical sweetmeat made by this method. It features plain chhana beaten by hand into the right consistency, then shaped into balls which are soaked in syrup.
The chhana or chhena used in such cases is manufactured by a slightly different procedure from Mughlai paneer; it is drained but not pressed, so that some moisture is retained, which makes for a soft, malleable consistency. It may, however, be pressed slightly into small cubes and curried to form a dalna in Oriya and Bengali cuisines.
[edit] Similar cheeses
Queso blanco or queso fresco are often recommended as substitutes in the Americas, as unlike paneer, they are commercially available in many American markets. Both are generally salted, unlike paneer.
The farmer cheese sold in Western countries, and dry curd cottage cheese, are similar except that they are made from cultured milk and often salted.
