Paneer Burger

This was inspired by the Indian McDonalds McPaneer Burger. My creation is here.

Make the paneer

You need:

• 1 gallon of milk. pasteurized is ok. I don't know how well ultra-pasteurized will work.
• 1 tsp citric acid (or 4 T of lemon juice if that's all you've got.)
• butter muslin
• colander
• 2C water

On to action:

• clean/sanitize your equipment
• heat one gallon of milk slowly to between 185-195F (stirring often helps. try to heat it evenly.)
• hold milk at this range for 20-30m. this is changing how the proteins behave. covering the milk helps a lot to get to this temp and hold it.
• allow milk temperature to fall to 170F, and bring 2C of water up to 170F.
• dissolve the citric acid into the 170F water.
• while stirring the milk, carefully and gradually pour the water in.
• gently stir the milk - you'll see it beginning to curdle. keep stirring until you see a good separation of the translucent whey and the curd.
• let this sit still for 20m.
• meanwhile, set up your butter muslin in your colander
• the curd should have settled to the bottom now, and you can ladle away some of the whey, and then carefully pour the curds into the butter muslin.
• allow the curd to drain for ~30m, occationally stirring gently to help it drain.
• tie up the muslin tightly around the curd, and press for 15 minutes.
  • use a plate or lid to distribute weight
  • use 1 or 2 gallons of warm water in a pot
  • the longer you press it, the drier/firmer it will be.
• Once pressed, the paneer should be firm. it can be salted now, which you want to do, else it's going to be pretty bland. Salt one side, let it dissolve, turn the cheese over, salt the other side. Haven't measured, but I'll take a stab at 1T per side.
• Chill it in the fridge. Once it has been chilled, it can be cut into cubes or what have you.

Fry that sucker

You need:

Paneer

As above. After chilling, slice into patties. If you're going for chickeneque, cut the paneer disk the long way, and you'll get something like a cutlet.

batter

• 1/2 C flour (APF)
• 2/3C - 1C beer (darn volumentric measures and varible humidity flour...)
• 1t garlic powder
• 1t salt
• 1t cayenne
• If you want it spicier, consider adding a 1/4C of sriracha

dredge

• 2C flour
• 1T garlic powder
• 1T salt
• 1T black pepper

Oil

350F.

How this works

• heat the oil to 350F.
• combine the batter ingredients into a bowl. should make something a wee thinner than pancake batter.
• combine the dredge ingredients into a separate bowl. I recommend then subdividing about 1/3 of this mixture into another bowl. Let's call this dredge A, and the remaining 2/3 dredge B.
• prepare a plate or bowl with paper towels for sopping up oil.
• paneer is already moist. If this were onion rings, dunk (or soak) them in water, and shake it off. moist.
• for each piece:
  • dredge in A, shake excess off
  • dunk in the batter, let excess run off
  • dredge in the B, and into the oil.
    • try not to crowd
  • 7m or until golden brown, then turn the piece
  • 3m or so on the other side
  • out of the oil, onto the plate

garlic yoghurt sauce

• 1 C yoghurt
• 1-2 cloves garlic
• 1t cayenne
• 1T lemon juice

Just blend these together until smooth.

Combine. Eat.

Put on a bun. Run it through the garden. Sauce it up. Eat!