Paneer

{{Short description|Type of fresh cheese in South Asian cuisine}}

{{Infobox food

| name = Paneer

| image = Panir Paneer Indian cheese fresh.jpg

| caption = Paneer

| alternate_name = Ponir, Indian cottage cheese

| region = South Asia

| creator =

| type = Cheese

| served =

| main_ingredient =Cow or buffalo milk

| calories =

| other = Rich source of milk protein

}}

Paneer ({{IPA|hns|/pəˈniːr/ |pron}}), is a fresh acid-set cheese, common in cuisine of South Asia, made from cow milk or buffalo milk. It is a non-aged, non-melting soft cheese made by curdling milk with a fruit- or vegetable-derived acid, such as lemon juice.

Paneer was predominantly used in most north Indian dishes and is now commonly used throughout India due to its versatility as an ingredient in diverse dishes.

Etymology

The word paneer entered English from the Hindi-Urdu term panīr, which comes from Persian {{transl|fa|panir}} ({{Wikt-lang|fa|پنیر}}) 'cheese', which comes from Old Iranian.{{cite web |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |access-date=19 August 2024 |title=Entry: paneer |url=https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=paneer |website=The American Heritage Dictionary}}{{cite journal |author=Nundolal Dey |title=Rasātala or the Under-world |journal=The Indian Historical Quarterly |volume=2 |issue=1–2 |year=1985 |publisher=Ramanand Vidya Bhawan |pages=236–237 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oTMKAQAAIAAJ |quote=Panir is a Persian word, though derived from the common Sanskrit words Pai (Payas = milk) and Nir (nīra = water) meaning milk without water.}} Armenian {{transl|hy|panir}} ({{lang|hy|պանիր}}), Azerbaijani {{lang|az|pəndir}}, Bengali ponir (পনির), Turkish {{lang|tr|peynir}} and Turkmen {{transl|tk|peýnir}}, all derived from Persian {{transl|fa|panir}}, also refer to cheese of any type.{{cite book |last1=Davidson |first1=Alan |editor-last1=Jaine |editor-first1=Tom |title=The Oxford Companion to Food |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0191018251 |edition=2nd |quote=panir and peynir, the Persian and Turkish words for 'cheese' (...)}}

History

File:Sp rajjo.jpg, a dish from the Indian subcontinent with paneer as a primary ingredient]]

The origin of paneer is debated. Ancient Indian, Afghan, Iranian and Portuguese origins have been proposed for paneer.{{cite book |first1=Timothy G. |last1=Roufs |first2=Kathleen |last2=Smyth Roufs |title=Sweet Treats Around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture |year=2014 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781610692212 |page=168 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M_eCBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA168}}

Legends about Krishna make several references to milk, butter, ghee and dahi (yogurt), but do not mention sour milk cheese.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tuor2vcVtiQC&pg=PA57 |title=Milk - Beyond the Dairy: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 1999 |editor-first=Harlan |editor-last=Walker |publisher=Oxford Symposium |year=2000 |isbn=9781903018064 |pages=53–57}} According to Arthur Berriedale Keith, a kind of cheese is "perhaps referred to" in Rigveda 6.48.18.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6TVLlPvuMAC&pg=PA209 |title=Vedic Index of Names and Subjects |author-link=Arthur Berriedale Keith |first=Arthur Berriedale |last=Keith |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1995 |isbn=9788120813328 |page=209}} However, Otto Schrader (1890) believes that the Rigveda only mentions "a skin of sour milk, not cheese in the proper sense".{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.107733 |title=Prehistoric Antiquities of the Aryan Peoples |author-link=Otto Schrader (philologist) |first=Otto |last=Schrader |publisher=C. Griffin |year=1890 |page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.107733/page/n339 319]}} Vedic literature refers to a substance that is interpreted by some authors, such as K. T. Achaya, Om Prakash and Sanjeev Kapoor, as a possible form of paneer, but without definitive evidence.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=heG2bdW_NrMC&pg=PA3 |title=Paneer |first=Sanjeev |last=Kapoor |author-link=Sanjeev Kapoor |publisher=Popular Prakashan |year=2010 |isbn=9788179913307 |page=3}}

Catherine Donnelly, author of The Oxford Companion to Cheese (2016), mentions that Vedic literature refers to cheese production made with the aid of barks of palash tree (Butea monosperma), fruits like jujube (Ziziphus mauritiana) and creeper like putika with coagulating enzymes, "as well as Dadhanvat, a cheese-like substance made with and without pores". According to Catherine Donnelly, these plant substances may have contained rennet-like enzymes and notes that the "Vedas may include some of the earliest known references to rennet-coagulated cheeses".The Oxford Companion to Cheese, 2016. p. 373. Lokopakara text dated to the 10th century gives two recipes for coagulated cheeses made from buffalo milk for making sweets using plants and roots. According to the text, buffalo milk was coagulated using roots of amaranth plant or leaves of marsh barbel (Hygrophila auriculata); the soft cheese produced in this manner was called Haluvuga. In the second recipe, buffalo milk was coagulated with Indian mallow (Abutilon indicum) or country mallow (Sida cordifolia) and was made into balls for sweets.{{cite web |last1=Ramachandran |first1=Ammini |title=Lokopakara – Part III Recipes |url=https://peppertrail.com/recipes-from-lokopakara/ |website=Peppertrail |access-date=22 September 2012}} Manasollasa, a Sanskrit-language text by the 12th-century king Someshvara III, describes Kshiraprakara, a similar sweet food prepared from milk solids after separating boiled milk using buttermilk.{{cite book |author=Ena Desai |chapter=Gastronomy of Bengal |editor=Lotika Varadarajan |title=Indo-Portuguese Encounters: Journeys in Science, Technology, and Culture |volume=II |year=2006 |publisher=Indian National Science Academy / Centra de Historia de Alem-Mar, Universidade Nova de Lisboa / Aryan Books International |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5LfaAAAAMAAJ |page=668|isbn=9788173053023 }}{{Cite book |last=Michael Krondl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gN6ySQnUnfwC&pg=PA38 |title=Sweet Invention: A History of Dessert |publisher=Chicago Review Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-55652-954-2 |page=7-8|quote= "In another recipe he gives directions for a syrup-soaked fritter many modern Indians would recognize. To make it, the cook is told to curdle warm milk by adding buttermilk, then strain it to remove the liquid. (Nowadays this fresh cheese would be called chhana.) The resulting curds are then mixed with a little rice flour, formed into balls, and fried in ghee. Finally, they are soaked in syrup."}}

Another theory is that like the word itself, paneer originated in Persianate lands and spread to the Indian subcontinent under Muslim rule.{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JTTxAAAAMAAJ |title=The Technology of Traditional Milk Products in Developing Countries |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |year=1990 |page=169 |isbn=9789251028995}} Paneer, according to this theory, was developed and moulded to suit local tastes under these rulers, and the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire are when paneer as currently known developed. Another theory states that paneer is Afghan in origin and spread to India from the lands that make up Afghanistan. National Dairy Research Institute states that paneer was introduced into India by Afghan and Iranian invaders.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1zs4NzrRWhQC&pg=PA231 |title=Feta & Related Cheeses |first1=R. K. |last1=Robinson |first2=A. Y. |last2=Tamime |publisher=CRC Press |year=1996 |isbn=9780747600770 |page=231}} Based on texts such as Charaka Samhita, BN Mathur wrote that the earliest evidence of a heat-acid coagulated milk product in India can be traced to 75–300 CE, in the Kushan-Satavahana era.{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5lpMAAAAYAAJ |first=K.V.S.S. |last=Rao |title=Paneer technology — A review |journal=Indian Journal of Dairy Science |volume=45 |publisher=Indian Dairy Science Association |year=1992 |page=281}} Sunil Kumar et al.(2011) interpret this product as the present-day paneer. According to them, paneer is indigenous to the north-western part of South Asia and was introduced in India by Afghan and Iranian travellers.{{cite journal |last1=Kumar |first1=Sunil |last2=Rai |first2=D.C. |last3=Niranjan |first3=K. |last4=Bhat |first4=Zuhaib |title=Paneer—An Indian soft cheese variant: a review |journal=Journal of Food Science and Technology |volume=51 |issue=5 |pages=821–831 |publisher=Springer |date=2011 |doi=10.1007/s13197-011-0567-x |quote="People during the Kusana and Saka Satavahana periods (AD75–300) used to consume a solid mass, whose description seems to the earliest reference to the present day paneer" |pmid=24803688 |pmc=4008736}}

Another theory is that the Portuguese may have introduced the technique of "breaking" milk with acid to Bengal in the 17th century. Thus, according to this theory, Indian acid-set cheeses such as paneer and chhena were first prepared in Bengal, under Portuguese influence.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=orHWFRMKf4EC&pg=PA33 |title=India: Food and Cooking: The Ultimate Book on Indian Cuisine |first=Pat |last=Chapman |author-link=Pat Chapman (food writer) |publisher=New Holland |year=2009 |isbn=9781845376192 |page=33}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efOjAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 |title=Cultures of Milk |first=Andrea S. |last=Wiley |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2014 |isbn=9780674369702 |page=2}} A type of smoked cheese called Bandel cheese was introduced by the Portuguese in Bengal, which is distinct from paneer.{{cite book |last1=Tamang |first1=Jyoti Prakash |title=Ethnic Fermented Foods and Beverages of India: Science History and Culture |date=2 March 2020 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-981-15-1486-9 |page=676 |language=en}}

Nutrition and preparation

{{Nutritionalvalue

| name = paneer

| kJ = 1251

| protein = 15.9 g

| fat = 15.5 g

| carbs = 23.3 g

| sugars = 22.5 g

| iron_mg = 0

| calcium_mg = 597

| magnesium_mg = 58

| phosphorus_mg = 490

| potassium_mg = 728

| sodium_mg = 185

| zinc_mg = 2.04

| vitA_ug = 155

| betacarotene_ug = 34

| source_usda = 1

| source = [http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2666/2 nutritiondata.com]

}}

Paneer is prepared by adding food acid, such as lemon juice, vinegar, citric acid or dahi (yogurt),Adiraja Dasa. The Hare Krishna book of Vegetarian Cooking. Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1989, {{ISBN|0-902677-07-1}} to hot milk to separate the curds from the whey. The curds are drained in muslin or cheesecloth and the excess water is pressed out. The resulting paneer is dipped in chilled water for 2–3 hours to improve its texture and appearance. From this point, the preparation of paneer diverges based on its use and regional tradition.

In north Indian cuisines, the curds are wrapped in cloth, placed under a heavy weight such as a stone slab for two to three hours, and then cut into cubes for use in curries. Pressing for a shorter time (approximately 20 minutes) results in a softer, fluffier cheese.

In Bengali, Odia and other East Indian cuisines, the chhena are beaten or kneaded by hand into a dough-like consistency, heavily salted and hardened to produce paneer (called ponir), which is typically eaten in slices at teatime with biscuits or various types of bread, deep-fried in a light batter or used in cooking.

In the area surrounding the city of Surat in Gujarat, surti paneer is made by draining the curds and ripening them in whey for 12 to 36 hours.

Use in dishes

Paneer is the most common type of cheese used in traditional cuisines from the Indian subcontinent. It is sometimes wrapped in dough and deep-fried or served with either spinach (palak paneer) or peas (mattar paneer). Paneer dishes can be sweet, like shahi paneer, or spicy/hot, like chilli paneer.

=Paneer dishes=

Some paneer recipes include:

Paneer pulao (paneer with rice)
Mattar paneer (paneer with peas)
Shahi paneer (paneer cooked in a Mughlai curry)
Paneer tikka (a vegetarian version of chicken tikka, paneer placed on skewers and roasted)
Paneer tikka masala
Chilli paneer (an Indo-Chinese preparation with spicy chilies, onions and green peppers, usually served dry and garnished with spring onions)
Kadai Paneer
Paneer pakora (paneer fritters)
Palak paneer
Khoya paneer
Paneer momo
Paneer butter masala
Paneer pasanda (shallow-fried stuffed paneer sandwiches in a smooth, creamy onion-tomato based gravy)
Paneer lababdar
Paneer Do Pyaza (named so because twice the normal amount of onions are used in this recipe).

File:Chamcham - Bainan - Howrah 2015-04-14 7905.JPG | Chomchom is a popular paneer sweet

File:ChennaPoda.jpg | Chhena poda is a popular baked paneer cheese-cake from India

File:Gur er Sandesh.jpg | Sandesh is a popular paneer sweet dish.

File:Matar-Paneer.JPG | Mattar paneer, a vegetarian dish from India

File:Yummy Palak Paneer.jpg | Palak paneer, a spinach-based curry dish

File:Ishwar Paneer.JPG | Paneer tikka masala from India

File:Malai Paneer Pizza from India.jpg | A pizza with paneer and vegetable toppings from India

Similar cheeses

Anari, a fresh mild whey cheese produced in Cyprus, is very similar in taste and texture to fresh Indian paneer. Circassian cheese is produced using a similar method and is close in consistency to paneer, but is usually salted. Farmer cheese (pressed curds) and firm versions of quark are similar except that they are made from cultured milk and may be salted. Although many South Asians translate "paneer" into "cottage cheese", cottage cheese is made using rennet extracted from the stomach of ruminants, and cow's skim milk. Queso blanco or queso fresco are often recommended as substitutes in the Americas and Spain as they are more commercially available in many American markets. Queso blanco can be a closer match, as it is acid-set while queso fresco frequently uses rennet at a lower temperature. Both are generally salted, unlike paneer. It is also similar to unsalted halloumi.