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Chhena

The milk is boiled, cooled to 75 to 80 degrees before the acid goes in, and there is no rennet in it at all.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (whole milk).

Ingredients

Method

  1. THE MILK IS BOILED, COOLED TO 75 TO 80 DEGREES BEFORE THE ACID GOES IN, AND THERE IS NO RENNET IN IT AT ALL. Its article gives all three. The milk is boiled for ten minutes; the acid -- lemon juice, citric acid, or aged acidic whey kept back from a previous batch -- is introduced once it has cooled slightly to 75 to 80C; and the coagulant is a food acid rather than rennet. That last point is worth stating plainly because it decides something a reader may care about: there is no animal enzyme in this cheese, and nothing unknown about it either. Most cheeses on this site are held at "the source does not say which rennet"; this one does say.
  2. THE TEMPERATURE IS THE WHOLE TECHNIQUE AND IT IS WORTH A THERMOMETER. Acid added to milk at a rolling boil gives a hard, squeaky, rubbery curd that will not knead into anything. Added below about 70C it barely separates and you lose yield into the whey. The window its article gives, 75 to 80C, is where the curd comes out soft and pliable, which is what every sweet made from it needs.
  3. THE ACID IS DILUTED AND ADDED A LITTLE AT A TIME. Four tablespoons of lemon juice let down with the same of water, poured in a spoonful at a time with one slow stir between each. Tipped in at once it sets the curd in a single lump and overshoots the acidity, which tastes of lemon rather than of milk.
  4. IT IS STIRRED ONCE AND THEN LEFT ABSOLUTELY STILL. As soon as the whey goes from white to a clear greenish yellow, stop. Stirring a separated curd breaks it into grains that drain to a dry, sandy mass.
  5. IT IS STRAINED THROUGH MUSLIN AND RINSED. Poured into a muslin-lined sieve, then cold water run through it for ten seconds, which stops the cooking and takes the remaining sourness off the surface.
  6. IT IS PRESSED BRIEFLY, NOT HARD. Twenty to thirty minutes under a plate with a light weight. Pressed under a heavy weight for hours you get paneer -- firm, sliceable, able to hold its shape in a curry -- which is a different product its article names as the next step on from this one.
  7. IT IS KNEADED WITH THE HEEL OF THE HAND UNTIL IT STOPS BEING GRAINY. Eight to ten minutes on a clean surface, pushing and folding, until the texture turns from crumbly to smooth and a little greasy and a ball holds together without cracking. Every sweet made from chhena stands or falls on this step: under-kneaded chhena splits in syrup or in oil.
  8. COW MILK FOR SWEETS, AND THE WHEY IS WORTH KEEPING. Its article notes that mostly cow milk chhena is used for the sweets, buffalo milk giving a firmer curd. And the aged acidic whey can be the coagulant for the next batch, which its article records as a way of not wasting it.
  9. IT IS USED THE DAY IT IS MADE. Fresh acid-set curd has no rind, no salt and no preservative. A day in the fridge is the limit before it sours.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes