How to make Paneer

Paneer is readily available in Indian grocery stores.
Making paneer at home is easy and gives you the choice of using semi - skimmed milk.
Also, its much cheaper to make your own Paneer than buy off the shelf.

Ingredients:
Milk ( whole,semi-skimmed or skimmed) - 1 litre
white vinegar / lemon juice - or yoghurt  3 tbsps

Process:

In a large pot, bring the milk to a boil while stirring occasionally so it doesn't get stuck to the bottom of the pan.

When it boils, lower the heat to a minimum and add vinegar or lemon juice little by little , stirring simultaneously until milk just curdles.

Switch off the heat.

Pour into a colander lined with a kitchen towel or a muslin cloth or just any clean cotton cloth.

Wash the fresh paneer with cold water to remove residues of the vinegar or lemon.

Even out the paneer in the cloth and place weight on it (I usually use the pot I used to boil the milk filled with water)

After 15 minutes or longer , you can cut the paneer in to cubes while still in the cloth and then gently remove the pieces and place in box or on a plate.

This fresh paneer can be used to make matar-paneer, paalak-paneer,kofta , paneer parathas ,rasgullas,sandesh etc.

Tomato Soup

Tomato Soup
Serves 2 

1. Ingredients

• 1 small onion -peeled, washed and chopped roughly
• 3 medium tomatoes, washed and chopped roughtly (remove the annoying bit at the stalk!)
• Half a handful (silly measurement!) of celery leaves and/or stalks washed and chopped (Celery can be replaced by chopped fresh coriander)
• A small potato, peeled, washed and thinly sliced

• You can also add extras like:
• 2" carrot, peeled , washed, thinly sliced
• 2" courgette / gourd (doodhi), cut into small pieces
• 2" red pumpkin, cut into small pieces
• 2" white pumpkin, cut into small pieces
• a dash of black pepper
• 1 tbsp olive (or any) oil
  

2. Method

• Keep 1 ltr boiling water ready, in the kettle or in a pan
• In a deep pan, add oil. Add the chopped onions
• On a low heat, fry for few minutes till tender. You may cover it
• Add celery/coriander. Stir well. cook for a minute or two
• Add potatoes, tomatoes(and other veggies). Mix well
• Pour 2 mugs= 500 ml boiling water. Let it all come to a boil
• Lower heat, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes until all veggies are cooked through
• Add salt and pepper to taste
• If you think there is not enough liquid left, add some more boling water
• Blend thoroughly with a hand mixer or in a blender/ liquidiser
• No need to seive!
  

Note:

• In winter, fresh tomatoes are very pale in color. So, u may add few tablespoons of tomato puree.
• In summer, u can get lovely pumpkin. So u may alter this recipe to pumpkin soup by adding more pumpkin and less tomatoes!
• If u have some boiled dal or lentils , u can add it to the soup before blending
• U can add a spoon or two of baked beans too