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Patrick's Indian Cheese: Panir & Chenna
April 29, 2008
Tim & I love making Indian food at home, and have a couple of well-worn cookbooks. But we almost always skip over the recipes that call for panir or chenna – those milky, mild flavored cheeses that are used in dishes like palak panir or rasgulla – because it’s hard to find these cheeses. But we’ll skip them no more! At the April meeting of our Do It Yourself Cheesemakers group, Patrick Barber (a local urban homesteader) demonstrated making panir from a recipe he adapted from Yamuna Devi's The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking. It’s really simple to make – the only ingredients are milk, acid and time – and it’s fun because you’re actually making cheese! And the only thing that’s better than eating cheese is eating cheese you made yourself!
PANIR and CHENNA / Basic recipe By Patrick Barber
Equipment
Heavy stainless steel stockpot with lid
Stainless steel colander
Large stainless steel mixing bowl (or another stockpot)
Butter muslin or cheesecloth
Kitchen twine
Slotted spoon (Stainless steel)
Ingredients
1 gallon whole milk (raw, pasteurized, or homogenized, but not ultra pasteurized)
1/2 cup acid agent: white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, strained lemon juice, or citric acid solution.
Method
1. Scald the stockpot and colander with boiling water. Soak the butter muslin in hot water, wring it out, then drape it over the colander and set the colander over the mixing bowl.
2. Pour milk into stockpot and turn heat on high. As the milk heats, measure your acid and have it ready.
3. When the milk is at a full foaming boil, lower the heat to very low, and slowly pour in the vinegar while stirring the milk slowly in one direction with the slotted spoon.
4. At this point the milk should separate into lumpy curds and pale yellow whey. If this doesn¹t happen in 30-¬60 seconds, add more vinegar until the curds separate out.
5. Turn off the stove, cover the pot, and move the pot to another burner. Let sit for 10 minutes, while the curds further separate from the whey.
6. Spoon out the larger curds and place them into cloth in the colander. Then pour the rest of the curds and whey into the colander. You might want to do this in the sink in case the mixing bowl is not big enough to hold all the whey.
7. Gather up the ends of the muslin and twist gently to release any excess whey in the curds. Run the ball of curds under lukewarm water to rinse off the vinegar, squeezing and twisting gently while you do so.
8. Use the kitchen twine to tie the muslin and suspend it, either from a cabinet handle or a spoon laid across the cooking pot. Hang the curds over the cooking pot and let them drain to the desired consistency.
Notes
∙ Butter muslin is a re-usable cloth good for draining the whey from soft cheeses. It is available from www.cheesemaking.com
∙ This recipe can be successfully doubled or halved.
∙ Your choice of acid will affect the texture and the flavor of the cheese. Lemon juice results in a delicately flavored, subtly textured cheese. Vinegars create a harder curd, and the apple cider vinegar lends its unique flavor to the cheese in overtones. I tend to use lemon juice for dishes like matar panir and chenna; apple cider vinegar is nicer for strong-flavored dishes like rajma. Experiment and see what you like.
Panir or Chenna?
After you have followed this recipe you have two choices. You can make panir, a firm cheese, or you can make chenna, a soft cheese with a consistency similar to chèvre.
If you would like to try both recipes, split your curds into two portions after you have completed step 7, and make panir from half and chenna from the other half.
To make panir: Let the curds drain for a minimum of 4 hours, or as long as overnight, until very firm and dry. Remove the cheese from the muslin.
To prepare and cook with panir:
Panir is generally cubed, fried in oil or ghee, and then used in Indian dishes like palak panir (greens and panir), matar panir (peas, mint and panir), and rajma (spicy red beans and panir).
To fry it, cut the cheese into one-inch cubes. Heat a thin layer of oil in a wide pan. Add the panir cubes in batches, so they do not crowd the pan. Cook over medium heat, carefully turning the cubes until they are browned on all (or nearly all) sides. You can turn them with tongs, but sometimes they stick so I also keep a metal spatula handy. At this point the fried panir can be used in the above-mentioned Indian recipes. It can also be used just like tofu in a stir fry, or get creative and cook it with what you¹ve got to work with and the spices of your preference.
Cubed, fried panir can be stored in a freezer for up to 6 months.
To make chenna: Let the curds drain for about 1 hour or press them with a weight for 20¬45 minutes. At this point the cheese will be soft, moist, and somewhat crumbly. Remove the cheese from the muslin and place it on a working surface such as a large cutting board or clean countertop. Knead the cheese firmly, pressing it forward and smearing it flat with the heel of your hand and then gathering it back up into a ball. Do this for 10 to 20 minutes. The cheese will change from a grainy, crumbly consistency to a smooth consistency that easily forms a ball.
To prepare and cook with chenna: Once you have kneaded the chenna to a smooth texture, you can add some salt, fresh ground pepper, and/or minced fresh herbs, if you like. Mix the flavorings in well by kneading the cheese a few more times. The cheese can then be formed into rounds or put into a small dish and used as a spread for crackers or sandwiches. Chenna can also be flavored with Indian spices, formed into small patties, and battered and fried into pakora.
