Recipe of an Indian soft cheese made at home with Rennet. Topli na Panir

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May 30, 2018 Recipe of an Indian soft cheese made at home with Rennet. Topli na Panir

Recipe of an Indian soft cheese made at home with Rennet. Topli na Panir

Rita 18 Comments Dessert, Health, Milk, Paneer, Recipes, Snack, Vegetarian

by Rita Jamshed Kapadia

Topli or Tokri means Basket in Indian Gujarati.

Recipe of an Indian soft cheese made at home with Rennet. (Topli na Paneer) Many easy ways to make them and enjoy!

Topli na Panir (2 recipes with rennet) 

By Rita Jamshed Kapadia

Recipe #1 (with rennet)

Makes 4 – 5

Ingredients

4 Cups Milk
2 tsp salt (optional for taste only, does not help in formation of panir)
2 Rennet Junket tablets

Method:
1. Warm the milk slightly, it should not be hot. (Hint put your finger in the warm milk it should be warm)

Put in the essence of rennet.

Wash and dry small paneer baskets.

At the bottom of each basket, sprinkle 1/2 tsp of salt, then pour curd mixture over, fill to the top of the basket.

Place the basket over a glass so that the water drains into it. Leave to form overnight or for 8 hours.

When cheese is firm and water is drained off, overturn the cheese out carefully.

Collect drained water from each glass add this whey into a large bowl.

Insert the cheese into it to store. You will see the basket indentations and if you like you can create designer paneer!

Recipe #2 (with rennet)

Makes 3 – 4

  1. Take 1 pint of good creamy milk. Use good milk.

  2. Do not boil.

  3. Put one tablet Rennet/Junket in one pint milk and make Dahi (yogurt) instantly within half an hour.

  4. Wet the baskets and pour the dahi and keep a tray underneath so that the whey runs down.

  5. Keep for an hour and then SLOWLY take it out from each basket and transfer to salty water (if you don’t like salty, plain water).

  6. Try 3 or 4 at the first try with one pint of milk.

Topli na Paneer are small soft cheeses which are made in baskets (topli is gujarati word for basket, hence the name).

These paneers are kept in earthenware pots in their whey. In Surat which is reputed to have the finest topli na paneer, it is sold in pots door-to-door.

These are made from “Rennet” which is a package powder and found in Supermarkets.

Where to buy RENNET?

You can buy the rennet here:

[amazon_link asins=’B000KB9WL2,B00O1836V2|B01N9WL32K|B004LLB3IW’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’1447-5689-3485|ASIAJSZEHCNBQIE2T3FA|AKIAJAK4Z34SOPPDUISA’ marketplace=’US|UK|CA’ link_id=’a185e60d-0123-11e8-8122-4390250c19bd’]

Rennet for making Topli na Paneer

Recipe  (without rennet or lemon)

Ordinary Paneer

Cottage Cheese

Mattho

Makes 1 large paneer of 1 lb approx

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 Liters milk

  • 1 lb yogurt or curd

  • 2 tsp salt

METHOD

  1. Add the salt to the curd and mix it.

  2. Bring the milk to a boil and add the above mixture and stir.

  3. Keep it on the fire till the curd separates. Let it cool for a little while.

  4. Put a thin muslin cloth in a sieve or strainer and pour the mixture into it. Cover it very lightly and let all the water drain out.

  5. Cool and then serve.

———————————-

Topli Paneer (Parsi style fresh cheese)

Recipe (with lemon)

By Rita Jamshed Kapadia

Yield: 2 cups

INGREDIENTS

Whole Milk 1 quart
Lemon juice 1

METHOD

Basic Steps:

Curdle → Strain → Press and Form

  1. Bring milk just to boil, and then remove from heat.

  2. Stir in lemon juice and let set 10 minutes.

    This separates the curds and whey.

  3. Strain through cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer

    and squeeze out the excess whey.

  4. Flatten into a square shape about 1/2″ thick in the cheesecloth.

  5. Place between 2 plates, and weigh the top plate down

    with something heavy like canned goods.

  6. Chill for 1 up to 8 hours to allow excess whey to be squeezed out.

  7. Remove from cheesecloth and cut into squares to use in recipes.

Chill and serve. Paneer will stay for a week refrigerated.

Health Tip: This topli nu paneer is very good for digestion and is the most effective taken first thing in the morning as breakfast.

Fiesta Friday #258

Rita

Since 1999 to date we celebrate 20 years of www.ParsiCuisine.com. ParsiCuisine.com, now with over 637,000 hits. Not to mention the social media of facebook, twitter. Rita has authored “Parsi Cuisine The Manna of the 21st Century” and ten individual series cookbooks with matched digital e-cookbooks; She was recently invited to Gleason Library and the Boston Athenaeum, Boston, MA to demonstrate and talk about Parsi Food. Rita's Parsi Cuisine Cookbooks are a labor of love. The cookbooks began in an effort to maintain and preserve our recipes and traditions for the next generation, many of whom have been raised in USA, UK, Australia, France, Germany,Canada and other countries outside of India. Printed Paperback of the Ancient cooking book “Vividh Vani” by Meherbai Jamshedji Wadia: Through software and amazon services, We have managed to print the “Vividh Vani” in high quality paper . You can now own a brand-new copy of the Vividh Vani in strong paper bound books. These printed volumes are exactly the same antique and original books of Meherbai Jamshedji Wadia. They include photos and letters of the Wadia family. They are a legacy item for the parsi kom that can be preserved another 1000 years and more!  * This site offers free downloads of old traditional parsi cookbook volumes of the "Vividh Vani". Translation to English effort is on-going, you will find some translated recipes here. You can follow her on Twitter @ParsiCuisine and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ParsiCuisine.

18 thoughts on “Recipe of an Indian soft cheese made at home with Rennet. Topli na Panir”

  5. Zarir, you will find this topli na panir similar to very soft (and expensive) western cheeses. A delight to have and savor.

  6. I regularly make topli na paneer…also learnt here about uses of whey & Will follow accordingly

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  10. Zarine for 4 cups that is 1 Litre milk put in 2 tablets of junket rennet.

    2 cups add 1 tablet and let it sit fir 30 minutes to form the start of the panir.

    Rita

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  13. Pingback: Topli na Paneer – 3 ways to make them! | PARSIS.IN

  15. Thanks! My favorite too, I was under 10 years of age when in Surat, but still remember them.

    There is a story behind how they are delivered to the customers. In the old days, if you lived on a multi-story building (say third floor), to avoid climbing up the stairs, the paneer walla would deliver the paneer in a “topli” (large basket) hung by a rope from the third floor window or balcony. In the morning when the lady of the house wakes up, she pulls up the rope + basket to get her paneer!

    Happy Holidays!

    Rita

  16. Thrilled to see this recipe, Rita, used to be such favorite of ours as kids. While regular paneer is still common, somehow this concept died down, so happy you’ve revived it. Have a great holiday season.

  17. Hi Vera,
    Yes you can make them. You do not need the baskets. These are just a “container” where the paneer water can drain out.

    Do we need a pot(or a old fashioned patio) just from India to make dhansak? No.

    Use any strainer, like a tea strainer. Plastic or steel either will do.

  18. Hello Rita,

    The recipe for “topli na Paneer” sounds very easy to make. I used to love these. However, the question is, from where do I get these baskets?

    Is there any other alternative in making this without the baskets?
    Thanks.

    Vera

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