Also Known as
Cottage cheese, chenna

Description
A vegetarian delight, paneer also known as cottage cheese is a soft, white, crumbly cheese which is used widely in continental, oriental and Indian cuisines. It's simple, fresh versatile flavour makes it a delicious addition to any recipe. Paneer can be made at home by boiling whole milk. An ingredient with acidic properties is added to coagulate the milk. The whey water formed is either discarded or used in various preparations and the cheese is harvested. This cheese is called chenna. The chenna is then pressed to form a block of cheese. This cheese block is called paneer. Paneer is a fresh cheese and is never aged. Since it contains no rennet, it is perfectly safe for vegetarians to have.

Chopped paneer

Paneer can be chopped with a sharp knife. Cut it into half and then chop the half portion into another half. Chop ingredients by cutting them in small pieces approximately ¼ inch in diameter, although the chopped food doesn't need to be exactly the same size. If the recipe calls for the ingredients to be "coarsely chopped," make the pieces slightly larger

Crumbled paneer

Crumble the paneer with your hands. You can disintegrate them into big or small pieces as desired. Often used in stuffing parathas or to make Paneer Bhurji.

Grated paneer

Paneer can be grated thinly or thickly using a grater as required by the recipe. Used in Parathas, Tikkis, Kheer etc.

Mashed paneer

Mash paneer with fingers to attain a rough, uneven texture. Mashed Paneer can be used to make soft balls either added to savoury or sweet preparation.

Paneer cubes

Dice or cube ingredients by cutting them into uniform strips. Line up the strips with your non-working hand and cut them into square pieces. Cube them as per the recipe's need regarding the size of the cubes, (for example, "cut into ½-inch cubes"). Small Cubes are wonderful addition to salads whereas large ones are used for veggies.

Paneer strips

Cut down the paneer in half lengthwise. Place the flat side of one half paneer on the cutting board, using the knife make vertical cuts, at a right angle to the cutting board. Cut down through the rest of the paneer in similar manner of the desired thickness.

Sliced paneer

Slice using a sharp knife by cutting vertically across the cutting board. Slice them thinly or thickly as the recipe requirement, can used for making pakodas or sweet dishes.