So, I recently saw an episode of America's Test Kitchen in which they made palak paneer, including making the paneer from scratch. It looked easy enough, and I'd never tried making cheese before, so I decided to do it. Sunday, I made my first batch of paneer, using whole milk and buttermilk to curdle it. It turned out beautifully, looked exactly like it should, was the perfect consistency...and tasted like burnt milk. Turns out you need to use a heavy bottomed pot and stir constantly to avoid burning the milk. Darn.
OK, paneer take two. This time I used lemon juice, my dutch oven, and a wooden spoon. However, I didn't press it enough, and it turned out more like ricotta.
Paneer take three (on Wednesday). Same as the second time, but I squeezed it more, and pressed it longer...just not long enough, apparently.
It was very crumbly, but tasted ok, so I proceeded with my recipe, finally!
On the show they used spinach and mustard greens, so that's what I did as well. Lots of garlic, onion, a jalepeno pepper (they were out of serrano at the store), lots of spices, and diced tomatoes.
I cooked the greens in some water until they were wilty, then blended most of them up in the cuisinart, leaving a handfull rough chopped for texture. Then I added them to the onion mixture in the kadhai and warmed it all back up. Then, I added the paneer. This happened:
If you know palak paneer, it is supposed to be lovely cubes of cheese mixed with the spinach curry. However, my paneer broke up when I stirred it in, and it was not pretty.
The whole thing tasted ok, but I was disappointed that it didn't look nicer. I may try again someday, but I think I'm just about paneered out at the moment!
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