How to make paneer, Indian cheese, from scratch.

When I was a kid my mum used to make chana or paneer all the time. She would make the paneer herself and the whole house would smell like vinegar. I used to be disgusted by that and then would refuse to eat that paneer, cause it reminded me of that grubby smell.

But... I have found a way to make this very young type of cottage cheese without the nasty smells hanging in the kitchen !

Paneer, chana or cottage cheese is an integral part of Indian cooking. It's a versatile dairy product, which is used in desserts, snacks or for main course cooking. In India it is known by various names like in Hindi - panir
or  Bengali - Chana.

2 liters of full fat milk
2 tb of vinegar or lemon juice
muslin cloth or a fine thin cloth


1. Put 2 liters of full fat milk in a heavy bottomed vessel.

2. Let it come to a boil, now reduce the flame and add the 2 tb of vinegar (or lemon juice) to the to the boiling milk.







3. As soon as u add vinegar the milk will immediately split.

4. Cook this till the milk is all curdled and a pale yellow transparent fluid is left behind .(you can add more vinegar or lemon if required).
5. Keep on stiring occassionaly to avoid sticking of the milk at the bottom of the vessel. This will not take any longer than just 1-2 minutes all together.




6. Now strain the curdled milk (or actually this is the paneer) in a fine muslin cloth which you have put over and fine siff or colander to separate the water from the curdled milk.

7. Rinse the cheese with cold water to wash of excess vinegar or lemon juice.








8. Now wring the cloth up real tight so as much water as possible is drained. Get yourself a heavy pot filled with water and place this on top of the cloth with the paneer in it. By adding the pressure to the cheese it becomes all dry. The dryer the substance is, the better it can be processed. Leave this for at least 2 to 4 hours. even better would be overnight.

9. After a few hours take of the pot and open the cloth gently. The lump of white cheese is the actual paneer. This can be cut up to pieces to process into a curry (like saag paneer) or knead into a variety of Indian sweets (misti).

This paneer can now be processed into all different varities of curry's. You can choose to fry the pieces before processing, but you can also just cut it into cubes and add it to a korma.