Paneer.

Has anyone found this ready made in their local asian foodstore.
It's like boxty, it tastes so good but making it is so boring.

Blub2k4

I would have said that it's in ALL of the Asian shops that I have been in. I never buy it though as I prefer to make my own, it's a lot more fun, I dont find it boring at all, but then maybe you are doing something different.???

Wannabe Deise

I have tried at least 3 Asian food stores in Dublin and none of them had ready made paneer. I ended up buying it in Govindas pre-cooked yesterday. Where did you see it?
I checked fridge in each store and all I could see was tofu and fish balls etc

Shabadu

They sell it in the one off Capel Street on the way to Henry Street.

But how do you make it?! Is it easy?

Tar.Aldarion

I assume you are calling it boring to make because of the draining? read a book. :P

Aye, it's very easy although that doesn't mean that I ever bother to do it.

Random google links:
http://www.indiacurry.com/dairy/d003paneer.htm
http://foodmusings.typepad.com/food_musings/2005/04/how_to_make_pan.html

TheBigLebowski

Anyone know of anywhere else you can buy paneer? Somewhere maybe not so close to the city centre? Like the general west Dublin area?

Blub2k4

Shabadu wrote:

They sell it in the one off Capel Street on the way to Henry Street.

But how do you make it?! Is it easy?

Very easy, the hardest bit these days is sourcing the muslin, but if you have a look in the haberdashers in the connecting street near all the sex shops parallel to Grafton St, (sorry I cant remember the name,but I remembered the sex shops , they have it.)

Get some good milk, the better the milk the better the paneer, Jenny in Temple Bar can have some nice milk for it.
Then you need some Citric acid, or lemon juice, personally I use the powdered acid.
Boil the milk slowly on the hob until the milk frothes up and rises(Katajani emphasises this frothing step(??)), then take it off the heat immediately and add in a pinch of acid while stirring moderately.
You will see the curds and whey seperating, you will know it is ready when the greenish whey has clearly seperated from the white curds, you may need to add another tiny pinch of acid if they dont seperate totally, use too little rather than too much.
Place your muslin in a colander in the sink (or on a pot if you wish to save the whey, I haven't found a use for it yet, Katayani says that it's good for soups etc???) then pour the lot through the muslin and you end up with all the curds in the muslin. Remove it from the pot if you used one then rinse the acid out of the curds under the tap.
Then bunch the muslin together and pick the lot up turning the muslin to squeeze the liquid out, squeeze it well until the liquid all runs out.
Twist the top of the muslin "bag" until it is tight then refill the original pot you were using to boil the milk with cold water and place it on top of the muslin bag and let it stand on it in the sink for about an hour. You will end up with a nice little patty of Paneer.

Et Voila!

Very easy.

You can add salt or different things at the point after rinsing if you wish to flavour the ricotta (it's almost the same thing).
A nice one is to just chop the paneer and sprinkle some sugar and lemon juice and if you like a little chopped coriander on top for a quick desert.

This is something I have done a number of times and it works, so it's not some internet recipe, it's a part of Katayanis foundation class.

Blub2k4

With regard to sourcing premade paneer, it's in Asia Market, Madinah, in fact any of the asian shops always have it, it's practically a hindu staple.

TheBigLebowski

Blub2k4 wrote:

With regard to sourcing premade paneer, it's in Asia Market, Madinah, in fact any of the asian shops always have it, it's practically a hindu staple.

Where's this place? Although I have made it before exactly the way you said above, I find that you need to use an awful lot of milk for a small amount of cheese, so I thought it just as handy to buy pre-made...

TheBigLebowski

Also, why is it that almost every Indian in Dublin city is on the southside. There's countless going from Stephens green to ranelagh, terenure, stillorgan, rathmines but very few elsewhere... Is Indian food a food for the perceived upper classes?

Shabadu

w00, cheers guys. The feller is looking forward to curry night this Saturday even more than usual!

Blub- do you reckon that lovely organic Glenisk milk would be good? And the powdered acid, is it just citric acid from a pharmacy? Must buy some anyway for lemonade & ice tea season.

Also, Hickeys sell muslin in Stephen's Green shopping centre. I used to buy it for consommé in college & making homemade cheaty Greek yoghurt. Basically you just strain regular yoghurt for 24 hrs or so.

Blub2k4

Shabadu wrote:

w00, cheers guys. The feller is looking forward to curry night this Saturday even more than usual!

Blub- do you reckon that lovely organic Glenisk milk would be good? And the powdered acid, is it just citric acid from a pharmacy? Must buy some anyway for lemonade & ice tea season.

Also, Hickeys sell muslin in Stephen's Green shopping centre. I used to buy it for consommé in college & making homemade cheaty Greek yoghurt. Basically you just strain regular yoghurt for 24 hrs or so.

I reckon Glenisk would be good for it, basically if you use not so good milk you end up with the complaint that TheBigLebowski has, basically you get less cheese for your milk.
Yeah Shab, any citric or acetic powder or like I said even a spoonful of lemon juice will do. I think a pot of natural Yoghurt was used in the Kurma Dasa class. Any acid basically, I'd imagine even vinegar would work, just rinse well to remove any taste.

TBL wrote:

Where's this place? Although I have made it before exactly the way you said above, I find that you need to use an awful lot of milk for a small amount of cheese, so I thought it just as handy to buy pre-made...

The quality of the milk is the key to this, the more creamy and luscious it is the more solids are in there for extraction.
The places are on Moore St, Madinah. And Asia Market is on Mary St.

If you add some cream to the ordinary milk it should make better paneer too.

I have noticed a white hardish "cottage cheese" in the polish section of my supervalu.....I wonder if this would effectively be panner.I wonder what they use this chesse for, anyone any polish friends?

Blub2k4

Moonbaby wrote:

If you add some cream to the ordinary milk it should make better paneer too.

I have noticed a white hardish "cottage cheese" in the polish section of my supervalu.....I wonder if this would effectively be panner.I wonder what they use this chesse for, anyone any polish friends?

Paneer is basically the same as Ricotta, which means "recooked" basically it's the second time you put the whey through the process that you get the ricotta, or something to that effect, am not 100% sure, again Katayani had explained this in the class, but my memory doesn't extend past ridiculous things like customer phone numbers or passwords, go figure

Shabadu

As my toddler says, Look what my made!

Blub2k4

Shabadu wrote:

As my toddler says, Look what my made!

Nice one, glad you enjoyed that

<edit> I read the blog too Shab, you would need more acid the next time definitely, when it's fully seperated the whey has a distinct green colour.
The other thing is that if you want it more solid so it wont break up as easily then leave it longer in the sink with the pot on, then chill overnight in the fridge, that way it can get quite a bit more solid and more like shop bought. In fairness though I think it varies from time to time depending on the milk too.

Wannabe Deise

Blub2k4 wrote:

With regard to sourcing premade paneer, it's in Asia Market, Madinah, in fact any of the asian shops always have it, it's practically a hindu staple.

Hi sorry you'll have to hold my hand here. I looked in Asia Market and I couldn't find it. Should it be near tofu? in the fridge or where?

I don't find staff very helpful in there ...

Where is Madinah?
Thanks!!

Blub2k4

Wannabe Deise wrote:

Hi sorry you'll have to hold my hand here. I looked in Asia Market and I couldn't find it. Should it be near tofu? in the fridge or where?

I don't find staff very helpful in there ...

Where is Madinah?
Thanks!!

I find the right staff to be very helpful, there is one guy who puts stuff out on the shelves who I have a feeling doesn't speak too much English but he will grunt and point in the right direction. The guy behind the counter is normally top notch. The Paneer in Asia Market is down the back in the fridge, ask and someone will help, if you are a woman of course avert your eyes and try not to look like a brazen hussy (joke by the way ).
Madinah is on Moore Street, approximately opposite the doorway to the ILAC, it has a large bright orange sign outside it and a really good if sparse deli counter down the back.
The fridges are halfway down the shop on the left, again ask in here and they should be more than happy to help.

I find that when they get to know you they, like any other shop keeper, can be very friendly, they have a small town feel to them and remember their customers which I find cool in the city and in this day and age.

frobisher

It's been a while since I looked but unless it's a genuine Indian/Pakistani food store I have never seen Paneer in an Asian foodstore.

rainglow

Some of the Indian guys in my class in college cooked us all an Indian feast one night, and one of the picky bits was paneer coated in some kind of tandoori (but spicier) spices and baked in the oven. They were little cubes of heaven - would anybody have any ideas for something similar? I'm not particularly inventive in the kitchen myself

Blub2k4

rainglow wrote:

Some of the Indian guys in my class in college cooked us all an Indian feast one night, and one of the picky bits was paneer coated in some kind of tandoori (but spicier) spices and baked in the oven. They were little cubes of heaven - would anybody have any ideas for something similar? I'm not particularly inventive in the kitchen myself

If you could ask them what was the name of it then I could probably get the recipe for you.
It sounds like a paneer curry of some sort but a paneer curry can be a lot of things.

Wannabe Deise

Blub2k4 wrote:

I find the right staff to be very helpful, there is one guy who puts stuff out on the shelves who I have a feeling doesn't speak too much English but he will grunt and point in the right direction. The guy behind the counter is normally top notch. The Paneer in Asia Market is down the back in the fridge, ask and someone will help, if you are a woman of course avert your eyes and try not to look like a brazen hussy (joke by the way ).
Madinah is on Moore Street, approximately opposite the doorway to the ILAC, it has a large bright orange sign outside it and a really good if sparse deli counter down the back.
The fridges are halfway down the shop on the left, again ask in here and they should be more than happy to help.

I find that when they get to know you they, like any other shop keeper, can be very friendly, they have a small town feel to them and remember their customers which I find cool in the city and in this day and age.

thanks. I'll try again.

vibrant

I'm pretty sure you can buy it in cubes in the Farmer's Market in Temple Bar on Saturdays. As you're walking down the steps from Eustace Street into Meeting House Square, check out the first couple of stands on your left. One of them sells it (at least to the best of my knowledge he does).

dazmoriarty

Hi all,

We've found it in Malik's Foodstore in Clonsilla/Coolmine area, around the corner from where the Fire Station and Power City are.

We've also found it in the Asian food store on Mary St.

Most (south) asian shops will sell it now from what I can see.

ednwireland

donegal cooking cheese basically the same stuff my local health food store stocks it.
mmmmmmmm matter paneer favourite curry

http://www.donegalcheese.com/

classy website !

TheBigLebowski

ednwireland wrote:

donegal cooking cheese basically the same stuff my local health food store stocks it.
mmmmmmmm matter paneer favourite curry

http://www.donegalcheese.com/

classy website !

Which health store is that?