Paneer Kheer ( Cottage Cheese Pudding)

The very first reactions I got, when I offered this to my friends are ...  "Ermm...... paneer?", "aaa.... okay.. maybe I can taste it"all accompanied by sheepish faces, unable to refuse me! But on tasting, all I got were get me some more!


I had this on a flight and I just had to eat it again. Unfortunately, seconds of alcohol seem normal, to ask, asking a second serving of dessert .... not so much. And so I decided, I have to try this at home. I was quite sceptical to try though, as the dessert seemed very sophisticated and one that could fall apart if the tiniest thing went wrong.

Let me tell you one thing though, I spent more time buying the ingredients than actually making it. It's actually a quick dessert, especially if you do not count the chilling time. Making it requires the least bit of effort as compared to any Indian dessert I can think of.

So much so, that I offered to make this for a team dinner and we are a team of 20! It's really quite simple and totally worth making.

Some important things before I get into the ingredients. Paneer is the star of the dish and hence you need the best and freshest possible paneer. If you are buying paneer from the market, get the softest possible paneer. In Chennai, Hatsun's paneer is the best hands-down. I have tried Milky Mist and I hate it and even the ones from Nilgiris. You can use them for gravies, while for dessert you need better. If you can make it at home, then even better. Buy whole milk and get it to a boil. Once it has reached boiling point, add some vinegar or lemon juice and let the milk curdle. When you see clear liquid (whey). switch off the gas, strain the paneer and rinse out the vinegar or lemon juice. Leave the paneer in the sieve and let the water drip off. You have fresh paneer! Keep it crumbly, use your fingers to crumble it further before adding it to the milk. If using store bought paneer, grate the paneer using the small holed side.

Without further ado, let me get to work

Ingredients: (serves 10 -12) 

Paneer/Cottage Cheese - 400 gms (grated/crumbled) I used Hatsun's this time
Milk - 1.5 litres of whole milk
Condensed milk - 400 gm/ 1 can
Sugar - 4 tablespoons
Cardamom - 8-10 pods
Pistachios - 20 - 30 nos, crushed

Method:

Pour milk into a thick-bottomed vessel and bring it to a boil. Your vessel really needs to be thick bottomed, else you are going to end up with burnt milk. Even if it is thick-bottomed, you need to stir it continuously to ensure the milk does not burn. Look, what happened, when I, overconfidently left the milk to boil without stirring it, while I was grating my paneer. The pic below was actually after I hurriedly poured water into the pan and then thought of clicking a picture to show you

In case this happens to you, switch off your stove, taste the milk first. If it tastes burnt, you have to throw it out, unfortunately. However, if like my situation, you just find that the milk has caught at the bottom, strain your milk without stirring it with a spoon. You can then continue as usual with your cooking after transferring to a clean pan. Thank God I managed to save it, else my dinner party......

Once your milk had reached boiling point, bring the flame to medium and then let it reduce to half its quantity. Keep stirring, you cannot afford to let it burn. Now I must say I am a very impatient person, especially while cooking, so I alternated between a high and medium flame to quicken the process of reduction. Ensure you keep stirring though.

At this time add in the crushed cardamom pods and let your kitchen fill with this warm smell.

While your milk is reducing, scrape the sides of the pan and add the sediment back to the milk. Do remember to do this every once in a while, as you don't want that to burn as well.

When you find your milk sufficiently reduced add in the paneer. Crumble it while you add it, even if you had grated it. We don't want to have any large chunks of paneer. Let the milk and paneer mixture cook for about 5 mins

Now is when you add the condensed milk and cook your kheer further on a low flame. Check for sweetness. I felt, that I needed some more sugar and so added about 3 tablespoons of sugar and let it simmer while stirring to avoid burning. A good tip for new desert makers, the sweetness will reduce once the dessert is chilled; rather chilled desserts don't feel as sweet as the hot ones, so when you check for sugar now, leave it a little sweeter than you want it to be while being served.

Cook the mixture till it reaches a creamy consistency maybe about another 5 mins. The sugar and the condensed milk will start giving a slightly offwhite colour and you will find maybe a yellowish top layer on your kheer as it is cooking. Continue without fear. Bear in mind, on cooling the kheer will get thicker, so don't reduce it too much. Switch off the flame after the kheer has reached a thick consistency and allow it to come to room temperature before you pop into the refrigerator to chill.

It took me about 35 minutes from start to finish to make this, not including chilling time ofcourse.

I normally keep some extra cold milk on hand to add in case my kheer turns out thicker than I anticipated after the chilling. Feel free to add milk if this is the case. Else, garnish with some pistachios and you have your kheer ready to serve your loved ones.

 Let me know if this recipe worked for you.