What can be cooked from milk at home. Milk dishes. Indian paneer cheese
The principle of preparing vegetable milk is very simple - soak the nuts or seeds overnight in water, wash the nuts in the morning, put them in a blender, pour clean water and beat them together with water, and then filter through several layers of gauze. The resulting white liquid will be plant-based milk that can be consumed during Lent, vegans, and anyone allergic to lactose.
Another helpful tip. At home, the taste and aroma of vegetable milk can be easily changed. For example, if you add pitted dates, honey, maple or agave syrup to a blender along with nuts and seeds, the drink will turn out sweet (without harmful sugar!). Taste and aroma can be changed with a variety of spices - vanilla from the pod, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ground dry ginger, cloves or even red chili peppers.
1. Almond milk
Almond milk is very popular with vegans because it's easy to prepare and tastes great as a substitute for cow's milk. With it, you can cook cappuccino and latte, cook porridge on it, add it to smoothies, cook lean pastries and pancakes. In addition, almond milk is incredibly healthy, contains vegetable protein, lipids, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, zinc, vitamins E and group B, and calcium in it is twice as much as in cow milk. Exactly! 100 ml of cow's milk contains only 120-150 mg of calcium, while the same amount of almond milk contains 273 mg. To prepare the drink, you will need raw, unroasted nuts. Just pour 1 cup of almonds with water and leave overnight, wash the nuts in the morning, transfer to a blender, add 4-5 cups of filtered water and beat well for several minutes. You will get a white thick liquid. Strain it through cheesecloth or a sieve - and almond milk is ready. The cake remaining in gauze can be dried - and you get flour, from which you can cook many delicious desserts - from pasta cakes to lean pancakes.
2. Milk from walnuts
Walnuts are incredibly healthy. They contain a huge amount of a wide variety of vitamins and minerals: A, E, C, groups B and PP, calcium, iodine, iron, phosphorus, and so on. Like all nuts, walnuts are an excellent source of plant-based protein and healthy unsaturated fats. Walnut milk is prepared in the same way as almond milk. Raw nuts (1 glass) are soaked overnight, washed in the morning, poured with 5-6 glasses of water and beaten in a powerful blender for several minutes, then filtered through a sieve. Walnut milk can be slightly bitter in taste, so natural sweeteners such as flower honey, agave syrup, or Jerusalem artichoke can be added to it. According to the same recipe, you can make milk from any other nuts - hazelnuts, macadamia, cashews, Brazil nuts, pecans. Each of them is unique in its composition, rich in macro- and micronutrients, and can also be used in a variety of culinary purposes.
3. Cedar milk
I want to talk about this drink separately, because it is a real champion in terms of the amount of nutrients. In addition, pine nut protein is digested by more than 90% and contains 19 amino acids, most of which are essential, that is, they are not produced by the body and must be supplied with food. Cedar milk contains beauty vitamins A and E, as well as a good set of B vitamins. The list of minerals is more than impressive - phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, copper, iodine, silicon and others. In general, it is enough to pour cedar milk into muesli for breakfast - and the reserves of useful substances in the body will be significantly replenished. It is very easy to prepare such a drink at home, and it is also fast - pine nuts do not need to be soaked. Put a glass of peeled nuts in a powerful blender like the high-speed Moulinex Ultrablend LM936E10, pour 2 cups of water and start beating, gradually adding 2-3 more cups of water. Leave the finished mass for half an hour, then strain. Cake can be added to smoothies, cereals, baked goods and salad dressings.
4. Coconut milk
Some mistakenly believe that coconut milk is the liquid found inside coconuts. This liquid is called "coconut water", while milk is prepared from the pulp according to the same principle as all other types of plant-based milk. The pulp of 1 coconut should be placed in a blender with 3 cups of filtered water, blended well for a few minutes and strained. Dry the cake and use as flour. Milk is an indispensable ingredient in many dishes. For example, it cooks curry and tom yum soup, various sauces and vegan desserts. By the way, if you add half as much water, you will get thick coconut cream. Chilled, it's a great lean alternative to yogurt.
5. Sesame milk
Sesame is the record holder for calcium content (783 mg per 100 g of product). No dairy product compares to this. In addition to this mineral, sesame milk contains vitamins E and group B, phosphorus, iron and zinc. Nutritionists recommend adding sesame seeds to food and using sesame milk for anyone who wants to get rid of sugar addiction. In addition, sesame is inexpensive, unlike nuts. To prepare milk, soak a glass of sesame seeds overnight in water, drain the water in the morning and rinse the seeds in a sieve, transfer to a blender, pour 1-1.5 liters of filtered water and beat for 30 seconds, no more, strain - and healthy, calcium-rich milk ready.
6. Pumpkin milk
Another budget option for plant-based milk. Pumpkin has a rather peculiar spicy taste and aroma, so it is not suitable for coffee and muesli. But for the preparation of cream soups, salad dressings and thick sauces for a hot savory dish, this is an ideal option. It can also be heated and whipped together with ground cinnamon, honey or agave syrup. It will turn out a hot spicy drink, which is useful for both adults and children. In addition, pumpkin milk is rich in antioxidants, protein and unsaturated fats, minerals and vitamins. Soak 1 cup of peeled seeds overnight, rinse in the morning and beat in a blender with 4 cups of filtered water, and then strain.
7. Sunflower milk
The most delicious vegetable milk is obtained from the usual sunflower seeds, rich in essential acids, minerals and vitamins, especially vitamin D. The only problem is that only raw unroasted seeds are suitable for making milk. Further according to the same recipe: soak 1 cup of seeds overnight, rinse in the morning and beat with 4 cups of water and sweetener to taste. For example, a couple of spoons of maple syrup. We filter - and the milk is ready. The taste is rich and bright, so it may not be the most suitable option for cappuccino, but for any other culinary purposes, it is an excellent lean alternative to cow's milk.
8. Oat milk
How to prepare vegetable milk from nuts and seeds, we figured out. Let's move on to cereals. And the first in line is oatmeal. It turns out not just milk, but a real drink of beauty and youth. The vitamins, minerals and antioxidants included in its composition significantly improve the condition of the skin and hair. In addition, oatmeal is a budget product, and the cost of milk from it is cheap. Even cheaper than rice. You do not have to prepare the drink all night, just 10-15 minutes is enough. To prepare milk, we recommend using whole grain flakes. For 1 glass you need 1 liter of filtered water. Pour the flakes in a blender with water and leave for 10-15 minutes, if desired, add pitted dates or honey, and then beat in a blender for about 3 minutes until the whole mass becomes a uniform consistency and color. Strain through a sieve or several layers of gauze. Oat milk is ready.
9. Rice milk
The preparation of rice milk is somewhat different from the recipe already familiar to us. A glass of ordinary white rice should be soaked overnight, in the morning, rinse the rice, transfer it to a blender and beat with plenty of water - you will need about 7-8 glasses. Next, the mixture will need to be brought to a boil over low heat, stirring occasionally, cool and strain. Rice milk is quite thick and bland in taste, which can be changed by adding maple or agave syrup. It is ideal for making milk porridges.
As you can see, making plant-based lean milk at home is very simple. What's more, you can make it with just about any nuts, seeds, and grains you can find. For example, from exotic quinoa and chia, poppy or flax seeds. A little effort - and you have on the table natural lean vegetable milk, rich inprotein and beneficial substances.
To be 100% sure that the cheese is made only from quality ingredients, use the advice and recipes of experienced housewives who know how to make cheese at home from milk.
The abundance of cheese products on the shelves of our stores has not surprised anyone for a long time. A variety of varieties often makes you wonder which cheese to choose? To bring maximum benefit to the body, it must be made from natural and benign products.
Do you know that to prepare 1 kilogram you need to take 10-12 liters of milk? And good milk is far from cheap raw materials. Wanting to save money, many manufacturers use many additional components that make cheese not quite cheese anymore. What to do?
Once upon a time, almost every housewife who kept cows or goats could cook delicious homemade cheese or cottage cheese. Without harmful additives and palm oil. Do you want to learn and understand how to make cheese at home?
It's easy and the result will surely please you. The resulting cheese dishes can be varied with spices, spices and herbs. While cooking, experiment, try adding garlic, paprika, dill, hot pepper. You will get a spicy and aromatic cheese.
Home cooking often gives a tastier and healthier result than production put on the conveyor. The technology for making cheeses is to mix lactic acid bacteria or special enzymes with milk.
Bacteria and enzymes can be bought at the pharmacy, they quickly curdle milk and help separate it into whey and curd.
Requirements for the main ingredients
The perfect cheese is made from just three ingredients - milk, sourdough and salt. But such a "pure" composition is quite rare.
If possible, then take fatty and high-quality milk, best of all home or farm from trusted sellers. Cheese is a product with a high fat content, so the fatter the milk, the tastier and more tender it will turn out. You should not boil it beforehand, so you will “kill” all the useful substances.
To increase the fat content of milk, you can add cream or sour cream to it. By the way, it is better not to take rustic separated sour cream, it is the “urban” store-bought sour cream that is prepared on sourdough, which is very important for making cheeses.
Sour cream and eggs are often used as a starter, but you can take kefir or natural yogurt.
When someone talks about cheese, for some reason, a solid product with holes immediately appears. But what about other varieties? Cheese at home from milk can be made both hard and soft, brine or sour milk - experiment with spices and recipes and you will surely surprise your family with a tasty and healthy dish, and most importantly, you will be completely sure of the quality.
How to cook cheese at home so that it is healthy and tasty? Let's turn to proven recipes.
Indian paneer cheese
This type of cheese is common in South Asia. It is very easy to cook it. 4 liters of milk and the juice of one medium lemon - that's all the ingredients.
In a thick-walled saucepan, bring the milk almost to a boil and pour in the lemon juice. Literally in 2-3 minutes curd flakes and whey will appear.
Pour the resulting mass into gauze, strain the whey, tie it in a knot and put it under a press. After a few hours, the cheese is ready.
Creamy
Take 0.5 liters of good sour cream, which contains only cream and sourdough. The fatter the sour cream, the tastier the cheese will be.
Put the sour cream in cheesecloth, if desired, you can add a pinch of salt. Tie the ends of gauze and hang to drain the serum for a day. You may be surprised, but the cream cheese is already ready!
If you add greens, seasonings or spices to sour cream, then it will be difficult to distinguish the cheese from the store.
The second version of the recipe is on kefir. Delicious and fatty kefir, right in the bag, put in the freezer for 6-8 hours. Then get rid of the film and lay it on cheesecloth and a colander. After it melts and all the whey drains, you can spread cream cheese on a sandwich. The disadvantage of this method is a small output.
Philadelphia
This cheese belongs to the cream and has a delicate creamy texture. It is perfect for sandwiches, and how.
Take 1 glass of ryazhenka and kefir with at least 2.5% fat, and half a glass of 20% sour cream.
Mix the ingredients at room temperature, add a pinch of salt and place in a colander lined with cheesecloth. Set it in a saucepan to drain the liquid and leave it in the refrigerator for 1-2 days. Cover with a lid or plate to keep it warm. During this time, the whey will drain, and the curd mass will thicken and ripen.
Adyghe
Brine cheeses are made using special salted brines, they are distinguished by the absence of a crust and have a brittle texture. Brynza, Suluguni, Adyghe, Chechil and other popular varieties belong to this species. Due to the fact that bacteria develop rapidly in such products, the solution is sometimes specially salted in order to prolong storage.
But for your family, you can make cheese at home with as much salt as you like, which distinguishes it from the store.
Adyghe cheese belongs to soft cheeses and does not require maturation.
The ingredients are like this.
- Milk - 1 liter.
- Sour cream - 200 g.
- Salt - 1 tablespoon.
- Eggs - 3 pcs.
Bring the milk to a boil. Beat eggs with salt, add sour cream and mix well. Pour the mixture into the boiling milk while stirring constantly. Boil 3-5 minutes. As soon as the curd mass has separated from the milk, it's time to remove it from the heat. Digest - the cheese will be rubbery.
Cover the colander with gauze in 3-4 layers and discard the hot mass to express the whey. After a couple of hours, tie the gauze, put under pressure in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, the Adyghe delicacy is ready.
Brynza
Cooking it is easy and simple! For 3 liters of milk, you should take a tablespoon of salt and 3 tablespoons of 9% vinegar. Yield - 350 grams.
Boil milk, add salt and bring back to a boil. Pour in the vinegar, as soon as flakes appear, remove from heat.
Using a colander and cheesecloth, let the whey drain and place under pressure in the refrigerator. It's best to leave it overnight. In the morning, the resulting cheese can be served with tea, but it is better to transfer it to a container and pour it with whey - the next day it will be even tastier.
Dutch
How to cook cheese at home so that it resembles hard Dutch? Surprisingly, you will spend only half an hour of your time.
The ingredients are like this.
- Cottage cheese - 1 kg, best fat home or farm.
- Butter - 100 g.
- Milk - 1 liter.
- Eggs - 2 pcs.
- Salt and soda - one teaspoon each.
Pour milk over curd and place over medium heat, stirring constantly. When the whey separates, remove from the stove and fold into a colander, let drain. Add butter. Whisk eggs with salt and soda. Mix everything well and put on a small fire.
Cook until the mass becomes thick and viscous, yellow. Be sure to stir continuously to avoid burning. The whole process will take no more than 10 minutes.
Pour the cheese into a mold and refrigerate. After cooking, the product should be cooled for some time and can be tasted - it does not require long maturation.
Mozzarella
If anyone does not know, then mozzarella looks like white balls soaked in brine, and belongs to rennet cheeses. Rennet cheese is a product prepared with a special enzyme, which is extracted from the stomachs of calves or kids. Its use significantly reduces the cooking time.
The classic recipe calls for black buffalo milk, but, unfortunately, it is not sold in the store, so use regular cow milk.
The ingredients are as follows.
- Milk - 4 liters.
- Pepsin (enzyme) - 0.04 g.
- Salt - a tablespoon with a slide.
- Water - 30 grams.
Heat the milk to about 35 degrees - this is the best temperature for an efficient rennet reaction. Use a special kitchen thermometer.
Pepsin is difficult to measure, so take it on the tip of a knife. Dissolve in boiled water at room temperature and mix with warm milk.
After about half an hour, the milk is fermented and will become like. Cut it into small squares to release the serum and leave it on for 15-20 minutes.
Drain the whey and transfer the "solid milk" to a colander or a special perforated form for cheeses. Let stand for another 2 hours. During this time, excess whey will finally drain.
Invert the mold onto a dry, clean plate and leave for another couple of hours.
Let's go to the Ambassador. Dissolve the salt in the whey, dip the cheese into the brine and leave overnight.
The next day you can start tasting, or you can stand a few days for ripening. Real rennet cheese matures for at least three weeks.
Chechil
Braided Armenian cheese is dietary because it is made from low-fat milk. It belongs to pickled rennet cheeses and is akin to suluguni.
The ingredients are like this.
- Milk - 4 liters.
- Water - 8 liters.
- Citric acid - 1 teaspoon.
- Rennet - 1 gram.
- Salt - 200 g.
In a water bath, heat the milk to 36-38 degrees, stirring constantly. Dilute the citric acid and enzyme separately in a quarter cup of milk or water, mix them with warmed milk and set aside in a warm place. You can wrap the pot to keep warm.
After an hour, heat the pan for literally 5-7 minutes over medium heat. Cut the jelly-like mass into cubes and drain the whey. Let stand another 30 minutes.
Heat the water in another container to 70-80 degrees and put the cheese pieces into it. Stir them in the water with wooden spatulas for about 15 minutes.
Put on rubber gloves and continue kneading with your hands. Keep the water temperature constant.
Gradually begin to stretch the cheese, form threads and transfer them to the salt solution. For 1 liter of water, take 200 g of salt.
Leave the threads in the brine for a day, then wring them out and weave the pigtails.
The ingredients are as follows.
- Very fatty cottage cheese - 1 kg.
- Unflavored vegetable oil or melted butter - 3 tablespoons.
- Salt and soda - half a teaspoon without a slide.
- Water (or diluted milk) - 2 liters.
- Paprika and fenugreek - 1 teaspoon each.
Leave the cottage cheese in the freezer overnight. Bring water to a boil and place frozen cottage cheese in it, cook for 15-20 minutes. Strain through a cheesecloth placed in a colander until the liquid drains completely.
Mix cottage cheese with salt, soda and oil. Transfer to a heavy stockpot and cook until smooth, about 10 minutes. If you feel the taste of soda, then you can add a spoonful of vinegar and a pinch of sugar.
Take baking paper (parchment), sprinkle it with a mixture of spices and salt. Put the cheese mass on the edge and wrap it with a roll. Refrigerate. After 2 hours you can try.
Each cheese - in its own box
Homemade cheese should be stored in the refrigerator for no longer than a week, because you do not add preservatives to it, which means that bacteria multiply faster. But, as a rule, households eat a delicious dish in just a day or two and have to cook a new portion.
Storage methods depend on the type of product. For example, cottage cheese should never be stored in plastic bags - it suffocates there and quickly turns sour. Put it in an enamel or glass dish. This is the most perishable type of cheese - a day or two, and sourness and an unpleasant smell appear.
Put in the freezer, cottage cheese and cheese from those products that do not lose their beneficial properties when defrosted.
Rennet cheeses do not tolerate moisture, so store them dry. Wrap with cling film and place in an enameled saucepan.
Adyghe, brynza and suluguni feel great in a stainless steel or enamel container.
The ideal place to store cheese is the vegetable compartment in the refrigerator. Wrap it in cling film first to ensure a tight seal.
If the refrigerator was not at hand, it broke down, or you went out into nature, on a trip, and it's hot outside, then take a cotton cloth, soak it in salt water, wring it out and wrap the cheese. Put in a dark, well-ventilated place.
- If you want to get hard cheese, like in a store, then you should use a heavy press, the density depends on the pressure. But it still won’t affect the taste, so think carefully about whether you need it?
- Cheese needs to ripen, let it lie down. Its taste will be richer and spicier. It will ripen well if its mass is more than half a kilogram.
- To give shape, you can take a regular colander.
- Salted rennet or pickled cheeses need to be soaked, excess salt will go into the water.
Conclusion
If you're looking to make homemade cheeses on a budget, you're not likely to win much. But you will be sure of the freshness of the product and the quality of the ingredients. Do you know how your cheese will differ from store-bought? It will be prepared with love, which means it will bring double benefits to your family.
Mother of two children. I have been running a household for more than 7 years - this is my main job. I like to experiment, I constantly try various means, methods, techniques that can make our life easier, more modern, richer. I love my family.
Which will appeal even to those children and adults who usually cannot stand milk.
milk soufflé
You can eat milk pudding warm. In this form, it goes well with cheesecakes, wheat and oat pancakes, with layered fruit pies. In addition, if you are going to treat children with this dessert or do not tolerate alcohol even in small doses, you do not need to add cognac.
Kissel milk with seasonal berries
We will prepare this dessert with cherries, and you can use strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, black or red currant, blueberries and even prunes or dried apricots. If you didn’t have any berries at hand, then don’t be discouraged - jelly is good without additional toppings.
7 milk desserts
Ingredients (for 4-6 servings):
- Milk (any fat content) - 1 liter,
- Eggs - 3 pcs.,
- Sugar - 1.5 cups
- Potato starch - 2 tbsp. spoons,
- Vanilla sugar - 1 teaspoon,
- - 300-350 g.
Cooking:
Boil milk in one saucepan. In the other, carefully rub the eggs with sugar, add potato starch and stir. Constantly stirring and again rubbing the resulting mass, pour it with hot milk. Place the pot over medium heat and, stirring with a wooden spoon, bring the mixture to a boil. Cool to room temperature, put vanillin.
Advice from the site: you can make a smoothie without adding cream, in this case, take not 500 ml of milk, but 1 liter. In addition, the amount of sugar can also be varied - it depends on the sweetness of the peaches and on your own taste preferences.
Milk shake
We are used to the fact that when cooking milkshake ice cream is always used, and all the ingredients are simply whipped with a mixer or blender to the desired consistency. However, you can prepare this drink in a different way, and it will be no less tasty.
Valeria Vorobieva
While we switched to, we decided that fermented milk products should be made on our own, so that there was absolutely no reason to go once again to the district center or to Kyiv for groceries.
We take milk not far from the house from the hostess. Previously, they asked fellow villagers about it for reviews - is it good milk, is it clean, does it dilute, etc. The reviews were positive. Yes, and I have never noticed any excess garbage in the milk (unlike some other housewives, who either have a piece of wool in their milk, or a fly ...) For prevention, they sent a sample to the laboratory once for a radioactive background - that's all turned out to be clean.
At first, milk had to be diluted almost twice with water - our delicate stomachs turned out to be unsuitable to digest such an amount of proteins and enzymes that are contained in a natural non-store product. Now I can not dilute the milk.
And now the answer to the question of what can be made from homemade milk:
To begin with, milk must be boiled and cooled to an average temperature of 35 degrees (if there is 100% confidence in the health of the cow and the cleanliness of the hostess, this item can be skipped).
curdled milk- a fermented milk product obtained by simply souring milk at room temperature. To speed up the process, you can add a crust of rye bread to the milk. Also, as a starter, you can use a little ready-made yogurt. It is not recommended for people who have problems with the digestive tract - bacteria that multiply in yogurt after souring are not entirely "friendly" to the natural human microflora.
Ryazhenka- This is yogurt made from baked milk. Baked milk is obtained by keeping boiled milk in the oven for 2-3 hours at a temperature of 100 degrees.
Kefir- a fermented milk product obtained by fermenting milk with a special ferment containing "kefir fungi". As a starter, ready-made "shop" kefir can be used, or a special starter that can be bought at a specialized pharmacy.
Yogurt- according to the production technology, it is similar to kefir, only "Bulgarian stick" is used as a starter.
In addition to kefir and yogurt, there are many more useful starters that can be used to produce various fermented milk products - acidophilus bacillus, lactic streptococcus, bifidobacteria, lactobacilli, propionic acid and acetic acid bacteria, etc. In Kyiv, one of the manufacturers of starter cultures for fermented milk products is
For fermentation, it is desirable that the milk temperature be maintained at ~35 0 C for 8-12 hours (different types of starters require different times and different temperatures). It is convenient to do this in a thermos, or in a specially designed yogurt maker. But I ferment milk at normal room temperature, in an ordinary three-liter jar, it just takes me a little more time for everything - at least 14 hours. The finished product should have a thick consistency, and when shaking the container, it should slightly lag behind the walls.
And from kefir you can make cottage cheese:
To do this, kefir needs to be poured into a saucepan and put on a very slow fire (you can put it in a water bath) and boil a little until the whey separates. The longer the kefir is boiled, the harder the curd will turn out.
The resulting mixture must be cooled and filtered through a sieve or hung in cheesecloth over a pan to glass whey.
Curd is ready
Added later.
Most recently, I mastered another recipe from homemade milk - homemade cheese.
You will need:
3 liters of fresh milk;
3 fresh eggs;
1 liter of curdled milk or kefir.
Put the milk on the fire and bring to a boil, while the milk is heated, prepare a mixture of eggs and yogurt (kefir). As soon as the milk boils, without turning off the stove, pour the mixture into the milk in a thin stream, stirring constantly. After a few seconds, the milk should completely curdle. You can boil curdled milk over low heat, or you can immediately remove it from the stove and put it to cool (in the first case, the cheese will be tougher). Pour the cooled mixture onto a sieve (an option is to put it in gauze and hang it up), and let the whey drain.
Add salt, spices, herbs, garlic, etc. to the resulting curd mixture to taste, transfer to a form lined with gauze and put under pressure so that the whey is completely separated. After a few hours, drain the whey and hide the cheese in the refrigerator.