Paneer: The Cheesy Legacy That Crumbles Just Right

WHY does paneer make a terrible comedian?

Because it always crumbles under pressure!

From a paneer chilli dry to a paneer makhani and from a paneer pakoda to a paneer bhurji, there’s a long list of dishes that have been innovated with the ingredients over time. As paneer gained status as a mainstay item in Indian cuisine, several cooks have found interesting ways of using it. There’s the paneer ka halwa, a rich and tasty wintertime treat, paneer kheer, a warm and satisfying dish, and the paneer jalebi, where the paneer is stuffed into the jalebi batter, making it a more filling and layered dish compared to the simple jalebi. Paneer has also become a part of tossed salads, sandwiches and rolls, pizzas and other popular dishes. At weddings, festivals and special occasions, paneer is a mainstay. 

In India, where there’s food, there’s paneer. And rightly so. With a high protein content — every 100 grams of paneer has roughly 20 grams of protein — it’s a favourite among vegetarians and the go-to substitute for any non-vegetarian dish. It’s not just a food item, it’s a status symbol, a statement, and a cultural artefact. It represents a way of thinking, eating and life that modern India boasts with pride and vigour. 

“In school, whenever someone had paneer in their lunchbox, everyone would crowd around it, and the paneer would be over before lunchtime even came around,” recalls 24-year-old Delhi-based research analyst Aarushi Singal. “And whenever we had a picnic to go to or some other special day, we would request our mothers to give us paneer,” she adds. She also sees paneer as a popular street food on the roads of her city and marvels at its universality, how it’s available on roadside stalls and five-star restaurants alike. But even in the face of all this variety, her favourite paneer dish is the simple dish her mother prepares at home:

• Sauté two spoonfuls of ginger garlic paste in a pan
• Add finely chopped onions and stir until they’re translucent
• Then add chopped tomatoes and let that cook
• Next, add the paneer cubes and let them absorb the taste of the base
• Add green chillies for taste and garnish with coriander

“It’s fresh, spicy and delicious. A no-brainer for me,” she adds.

However, a large part of why paneer is so thoroughly lodged into Singal’s mind and food is because of where she’s from. “Paneer is mostly a north Indian product,” says Mumbai-based restaurant Aamchee’s chef Prashant Patil. “In Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and along that belt, it’s used widely. In Bengal, it becomes chhena and more sweet dishes originate from it. The West uses it from time to time. But the south doesn’t have much of a paneer culture,” he explains. 

To understand this geographic discrepancy, we need to turn back and look at the origins of paneer in the Indian subcontinent.

So where does paneer come from?

Food historian Pritha Sen explains how nomadic communities like the Gujjars always carried food items that would not go bad along with them. They had livestock which gave them milk and milk products, and paneer may well have been one of the items they carried. Another possibility is that it was introduced in north India by Persian and Afghan rulers around the 16th century, with the word originating from the Turkish and Persian word ‘peynir.’ “But at that time, it was made by using animal proteins, mostly from the gut of the cows,” says Sen. As Hinduism gained popularity across the subcontinent, cows became sacred and such practices were looked down upon. The milk that cows gave also became sacred, something to be offered to the Gods. But paneer is made by splitting milk. “It’s a product of spoilt milk,” says Sen. So while Hindus revered milk, and the Vedas mention curd, ghee and butter, there was no talk of paneer, which was considered taboo.

There’s no single theory about who first decided to add citrus to split the milk into paneer. It could have been some other nomadic tribe that the knowledge descended from, a colonial invader, someone at the Mughal court or someone in ancient India. However, the vegetarian alternative existed and started gaining traction, especially in post-independence India. It’s also possible that different geographic areas came upon this discovery through different sources. For instance, in Punjab, it’s normally made by splitting hot milk with either yoghurt or buttermilk. In Kashmir, they make a mozzarella-type cheese called kalari, and the leftover whey from this process results in Kudan, another type of cheese made there.

A strong example to back the theory that different geographical areas, and so different cultures, came upon paneer in different ways is by looking at the birth of chhena in Bengal. The taboo around paneer was broken in the region when the Portuguese came there and stayed for almost 200 years. They weren’t using gut meat, but citric additives to make fresh cheeses from milk. “Bengal has always been very progressive where food is concerned. One possibility is that when the confectioners saw this method of making cottage cheese, the Bengali communities quickly adapted it,” says Sen. “Or the Portuguese weren’t doing that but the Bengalis experimented and realised that citrics worked,” she adds. Either way, the taboo was broken in eastern India, and the confectionary industry took off. Sandesh, rosogolla, rasmalai — the desserts made with chhena in Bengal are popular and loved all over the country today. 

But the origin of paneer, or even chhena, still remains a mystery, since the Manasollasa, an early 12th century Sanskrit text by the Kalyani Chalukya king Someshvara III, mentions this recipe:

Fried Chhena Mithai

Add good milk to sour juice and split it. The split milk is tied with a white cloth. Once the water has strained, cardamom and sugar are added to the mass, which is then mashed and blended into a smooth lump. Small balls, the size of ripe bimba fruits, are made out of it. These are then fried and eaten. 

Ingredients:

1-gallon whole milk

juice of 4 limes

sugar

cardamom powder

oil

Directions:

- In a pan, bring the milk to a boil, stirring continuously

- Then remove from the fire and keep stirring for about five minutes, till the milk is slightly cool.

- Add lemon juice and stir the milk gently till it curdles and the whey separates. Let it rest for about five minutes

- Strain out the whey with a clean, damp muslin cloth.

- Fold the cloth from all four sides, and twirl it gently so that the whey in the milk solids gets evenly drained out.

- Squeeze the chhena a few times to drain out the whey.

- Then place the chhena on a plate and knead sugar and cardamom gently into it. There should be no lumps. It should have a sweet taste.

- Roll the chhena into one-inch diameter balls.

Coat a shallow pan with oil and fry the balls.

Notes:

Make sure the milk is warm, but not hot when adding the lemon juice.

Always use cow’s milk when making the chhena.

If you’re using buffalo’s milk, let the milk rest after boiling and discard the skin that forms on top. 

Yet another origin story comes from Odisha’s Jagannath Temple. It mentions Chhena Khai, made of fresh cheese, milk and sugar, as one of the staple offerings at the temple’s chhappan bhog (56 dishes) offering. “Apparently, it has been there as long as the temple has been there,” says Sen. The temple was built in the 12th century, around the same time King Someshvara III was writing his book. But the temple is in Puri, whereas King Someshvara III was writing from south India’s west coast.

So chhena, and paneer, are mysteries in terms of their origin. But they’ve spread like magic, so much so that paneer is deeply connected with the Indian identity on the global stage today, and are deeply ingrained in the Indian culinary sensibility. 

“We do a lot of curries to go along with paneer. In India, people prefer paneer to soy protein. We crumble it in with the malai kofta. And the paneer makhanwala is a forever favourite,” says chef Patil. 

Among the many experimental dishes Aamchee has of paneer, Patil shares the story of a dish that was created by mistake. A young cook was told to sear potatoes, but he misunderstood the task and placed the potato mixture into the waffle machine. Chef Patil was amused to see the cooked waffle, but instead of rejecting he “played around with it,” resulting in the Thecha Paneer Waffle:

Ingredients:

1 russet potato, grated into cold water

Crumbled paneer

Chilli thecha

Mint

Coriander

Ginger, finely chopped

Garlic, finely chopped

Directions:

- Grate the potato and toss it in flour, coating it evenly. 

- Place the mixture evenly in the waffle machine and cook as per the machine instructions.

- Toss the remaining ingredients in a pan with some oil, making a bhurji of sorts.

- Take two-quarters of the waffle and add paneer on top. Sandwich it with the other two quarters. Serve hot.