This 4-ingredient homemade Truffle flavoured Paneer (Cottage Cheese) is incredibly simple to make, and has a wonderfully intoxicating aroma & taste.

Have you made Paneer at home before? If you did, you’ll know how much store-bought Paneer pales in comparison. I don’t blame them though, since it’s my preferred solution when a paneer craving strikes and I don’t have time to make it from scratch.

But when you can spare the time, indulge yourself in some homemade paneer, particularly this Black Truffle flavoured paneer. I’ve been having so much fun finding new things to infuse truffle flavour into (see end of post for other Black Truffle recipes), and it felt like it would fit perfectly into the natural creaminess of the paneer. And I was right!

You start by boiling some whole milk. Paneer is made by separating milk solids from whey, and you won’t make very much of it if you try to use skimmed milk. Consider this an occasional indulgence, and indulge.

Once it’s hot, infuse your flavours: in this case, it’s Truffle. I use this preserved bottle of Black truffle slices that I bought from Amazon. Just a few slices would do. It’s quite heady and a little goes a long way!

To curdle the milk, you need to add something acidic like lemon juice or vinegar, but what works even better is Whey. Cheese curdled with whey has the softest texture.

Make sure the milk is simmering with the acid – the heat helps speed up the separation. Once all the greenish-yellow whey is separated (see below), remove from heat and let cool completely.

Tip: Cooling before draining the whey results in softer cheese curds.

Stir in the chopped spring onion after you remove the curdled milk from the heat. If you add it to hot, boiling milk, it will cook, darken and become unappetizing.

Drain the paneer in muslin (make sure to save the whey!) and let it hang somewhere till it stops dripping.

Wrap tightly, flatten and press down with heavy weights to drain further. It helps if you do this over a wire rack or a colander, so the liquid that is pressed out has a place to drain. Once it is completely drained, the paneer will be firm and solid.

My mother-in-law sent me this stainless steel paneer maker from India. It helps shape and press your paneer. I weighed it down with a can of soup and my trusty mini-mortar and pestle. If you can’t get your hands on one of these, here’s a tofu maker from Amazon that will work the same way.

Or here’s a tutorial to shape paneer just by tightly wrapping in muslin – it’s how I’ve always pressed paneer.

To get that shiny store-bought texture, wrap the firm paneer tightly in muslin and immerse in water. Don’t worry. Since you already pressed it firm, it won’t reabsorb the water and get mushy. Refrigerate overnight and the textures will develop. Continue to store in water and it will keep well for a week.

Enjoy your decadent Truffle flavoured Paneer! I’ll post a recipe using this Paneer on Wednesday.

Every Monday this month, I’ll be posting a recipe that uses Black Truffles. Here are some of my previous creations. 

From left to right: Black Truffle Dal, Vegan Chocolate Truffles with Truffle Oil.

When you make these (which I really think you SHOULD!), be sure to SHARE YOUR PHOTOS with me through Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. I’d love to see what you cook from here and will share it with pride on my social media feeds.

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