Author Notes
Every culture has their own version of cheese. It's aged, smoked, processed differently, but it's all CHEESE! And it's all good (well, mostly—I've tossed some yuuuuck stuff in my mouth), but mostly all good.
Growing up my mom used to make the Indian version at home — the Paneer and it is a non-aged and non-melting cheese. The taste of fresh cheese simmered in curry or just tossed in fresh salad, is amazing, and it soaks up anything you give it. In my opinion—it's the simplest form of cheese. But I decided to change it up a bit, and infuse it with herbs.
This can only get better! —Nomaste
Ingredients
-
3/4 gallon
Whole Milk
-
2 pieces
Limes — juiced
-
1/2 tablespoon
Salt
-
1 cup
Fresh Cilantro chopped
Directions
-
Bring the milk to a boil in a heavy-bottom pan on gentle heat. It should take around 15 or 20 minutes. Keep stirring occasionally to make sure the milk doesn't stick to the bottom.
-
Next, when the milk boils reduce the heat to very low and add the chopped Cilantro. Cook for 2 minutes to extract the flavors of cilantro. Then add the salt and stir to incorporate.
-
Finally add the juice of limes. In a matter of minutes the curds and the whey (the green-ish liquid) should separate. If not add more lime. Be careful though, to not add too much lime, as the cheese might pick up those flavors a bit too much.
-
Keep stirring, and soon after a few minutes, the Milk will break! Essentially, you have cheese!!
-
Let this mix cool down a bit. Once cool line a big sieve/strainer/colander with some cheese cloth or layers of thick paper towel and drain the whey. You have cheese! Now let this setup sit for an hour or so to make sure the water drips out. Some people go overnight!
But then I found my cheese cloth! And I transferred this mix into the cloth and hung for half an hour, and intermittently kept squeezing with all my might to get all the water out. It worked! My mom wouldn't let me touch it, but she wasn't here to slap my hand!
-
Finally, once this is done, take the Cheese and let it set in any container for the desired shape, or cool a bit and layer it on top of Crostinis with some Cheese and diced tomatoes and Olive oil, or some Olives and Cucumbers. It is heavenly!
See what other Food52ers are saying.