Is there any use for the whey left over from making paneer?

Cafe Society
1

I made paneer with a gallon of milk today, and now I have over a half gallon of lemony whey as a byproduct. Can I make anything else with it, or do I just toss it?

For the moment, I’ve found one use for it: It’s in a big bowl weighting down the top of the paneer in the cheesecloth, to help drain it.

Edit: Maybe use it as stock for avgolemono soup?

2

You can let it ripen into yummy yummy buttermilk, then make ranch dressing, or pancakes.

3

We have friends who are professional cheesemakers and they sometimes use some of their whey to make ricotta.

Here’s a link that tells how: Fias Co Farm: Cheesemaking- Ricotta Cheese Recipe

4

The recipe I usually use for mattar paneer calls for whey as part of the sauce. I believe some of the other dishes in our Indian cookbook call for it as well. You might do a search for it on an Indian recipe site or try experimenting with it in other sauces.

Mmmmm. Homemade paneer.

5

Good, mattar paneer is the recipe I’m going to make.

6

Can you post your paneer recipe?

7

I started with a gallon of whole milk. I actually had more like 7/8 gallon, because some had already been poured out for other purposes by the time I started to make the paneer.

I squeezed the juice out of three lemons and strained out the pulp. Actually, I used a little less than that much.

I brought the milk to a foaming boil over high heat, stirring it constantly to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan and scorching. When it foamed up, I reduced the heat to low-- actually I have an electric range, so I simply shut it off and it was still hot-- and stirred the milk slowly and gently in a single direction while I drizzled in the lemon juice. I left it cooking slowly as I stirred it for about 15 seconds, then removed it from the heat.

I got large soft clumps of curds to form. (The cookbook said if the curds don’t form to add more lemon juice and return it to the heat.)

Then I arranged 3 layers of cheesecloth in a large oblong colander with cloth hanging over the sides. I spooned out the big clumps of curds into the cheesecloth, then poured the whey with the remaining little bits of curds through a strainer, and added the remaining curds to the cheesecloth.

I twisted up the edges of the cheesecloth above the mass of paneer and rinsed it in lukewarm water to remove the traces of lemon juice. Then I left it in the colander to drain, with a weight on top of it. I’m leaving it like that for at least 3 or 4 hours, so that it should be firm enough to slice when I unwrap it.

I followed the instructions in Lord Krishna’s Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Yamuna Devi, p. 313-315. She writes a whole essay on the many subtleties of the art of paneer making, but I’ve written the gist of what worked for me.