Cooking, recipe 16

This will be a short post, because I'm busy finishing my dissertation proposal, and we've had a very long day.  I did cook, though, so I wanted to post about it.  Oh, and it's becoming clear that the link dump won't be so regular after all.  Oops.  Maybe I'll be better about it when my schedule slows down.

The turmeric made it pretty!

So, today I made saag paneer, finally!  I used this recipe, which I found ages ago and hadn't gotten around to trying.  I won't re-write it here, but I'll tell you the changes I made.  I had less spinach than it called for, and what I should've done is adjusted accordingly, but I...kinda forgot.  So, what we got was less spinach and more onion, but it still tasted yummy.  I also didn't grind my own spices, nor did I have everything she suggests.  Instead, I made a mix of red pepper flakes, ground cumin, ground coriander, tumeric, and garam masala.  It seemed to work.  The paneer worked really well.  It got a nice brown layer after I fried it a bit, and it retained both moisture and texture.  I will definitely make it again and try other recipes with it.  It has been pointed out to me that paneer is essentially cottage cheese (which I don't much like), but the difference is that the former is made from whole milk and the latter from buttermilk, which is quite a difference in flavor.  So, I suppose you can make saag paneer with cottage cheese, but I don't think I would. :)

As for this recipe, I would like to try it again, this time with more spinach!  It was quite quick and easy, and somehow very rewarding to have made something Indian-ish.  Oh, and my version serves about 4.

Adventures in cheesemaking (recipe 15)!

A little satchel of paneer!

Today was paneer day.  The recipe was simple enough: take half a gallon of whole milk, bring to a gentle boil, gradually stir in acid (lime juice in my case) until the whey separates from the curds, run through a cheesecloth and was the curds, let them drain for a while (30ish minutes), press them with something heavy-ish for about 2 hours, then cut into cubes!  Tada!  The recipe I followed is here, though I've seen other very similar ones.

So, even though I was intimidated, I figured it would be pretty straightforward after I read the recipe.  Yeah.  About that...the directions are, in fact, straightforward, but the process turned out less so.  The milk wouldn't boil for a while.  And then it wouldn't boil some more.  And then it still wouldn't boil.  And suddenly, in the span of about 30 seconds, it went from not boiling to overflowing all over the entire stove.  Huh.  I cooled it down, we cleaned up the stove a bit, and when we tried to bring it back up to a boil, it did the same thing again.  Note to self: if making paneer, do so in a bigger pot.

Well, that was exciting...

Eventually, though I was able to add the lime juice (it took me about 5 tablespoons, not 2-3 that the recipe suggested), and it was pretty neat how suddenly, the milk really did separate into curds and whey.  I had the cheese drain (hanging from the paper towel rack above our kitchen sink) for probably about 20 minutes, since Mu and I were running late for dinner with friends, and we put it between two cutting boards with a pot on top.  When we got home, it was drained but still moist, and tasted relatively neutral, with slightly sweet undertones.  Yum!  So, I suppose the whole thing was a success overall, but dude.  Silly milk.

Poor pot

Recipe summary
Time: About 3 hours, but most of that is waiting.
Serves: Probably about 2-3.  Amazing how much milk it takes to make cheese!
Highlights/thoughts: See above. :)  Though I have to say, despite the difficulties, it did turn out nicely!
Would I make this again?  Probably.  It would be nice to figure out how to get the milk to a gentle boil without it going nuts first, though.

Cubed and ready for fridge