What is the 'homemade cheese' in some Indian dishes?

[Badtz Maru]

I had Indian tonight and decided to try a new dish that the menu claimed was onions, chiles, tomatoes, and 'homemade cheese'. Now I'm curious about this so-called cheese.

The dish was served quite hot, but the cheese was not melted at all. The chunks had a firm somewhat grainy texture that reminded me somewhat of tofu but was really a lot more like chicken, in fact that's what I thought it was at first (even though chicken was not in the ingredients).

I'm thinking this stuff would make a great meat replacement as it's texture is a lot more like meat than any non-meat substance I've had yet.

[Johanna]

It's panîr. Made at home by curdling milk and straining the curds through cheesecloth. Very simple in concept, though a bit of trouble to make.

I always made it by heating a gallon of milk to just below boiling point, and adding lemon juice. Instant curdling (chemical reaction assisted by higher temperature). When it cools enough to handle, pour the whole thing through cheesecloth. Then wrap up the cheesecloth around it and leave some weight on it for a couple hours to compress it. When compressed firm and unwrapped, you get enough from one gallon of milk for one good curry.

[Johanna]

All right, here's a recipe. My wife's cookbook from India inexplicably didn't have it (in India they hardly use recipes; it's all in their heads when they cook). Found one online.

http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~scu/Recipes/Misc/paneer.html

This recipe only uses a quart of milk. I don't suggest going to all the trouble for such a small yield. Use a gallon. I think the juice of two lemons should do the trick. Be sure to strain out all the lemon pulp first.

When you slice it up into chunks, try browning them in a pan first with a little ghee before adding them to the curry.

[Bromley]

Whilst I love paneer, I don't think you'd be doing yourself any favours if you cut out chicken/soy (relatively healthy) and substitute cheese (not).

Personally, I prefer it when it's just melting/melted, although I don't know if that's "authentic" or not. In the UK, you can buy it pre-made in Waitrose, but I've yet to get that to taste as good as the real thing from an Indian.

[Tansu]

I usually buy firm paneer ready made. Sometimes I'll make my own, but it is a bit of a faff. It's not really that fatty, I don't think. You could substitute tofu for firm paneer if you wanted.

By the way, when you brown the chunks in the pan, they'll spit quite a lot. A splatter guard comes in very useful.