Saturday 7 September 2013

Diary of a Turophile


Pink basil and olive flavored cottage cheese

\High protein and low fat makes cottage cheese a great choice for weight watchers 

Turophile is someone who loves cheese, and I am one, and my recent passion is making Cottage Cheese at home. Following a website step by step recipe, I have created a range of  herbed and spiced cottage cheese using cow and buffalo milk both. The results were totally amazing and given the fact it it is a high protein and low fat food makes it a great choice for weight watchers

Cottage cheese is low in carbohydrates and full of healthy vitamins and minerals. A half cup serving of plain cottage cheese contains about 120 calories, 5 grams of fat, 3 grams of carbohydrates, and 14 grams of protein.



The history of Cottage Cheese goes way back to early Greeks and Egyptians and of course in the villages of Indian subcontinent where it is used in a range of curries, kebabs and stir fries.  It was named "Cottage Cheese" because traditionally they made in cottages, which are small country and village houses.

Recipe:



The basic processing instruction will remain same, with the variation of different herbs and spices for creating flavors.



Ingredients



1 Litre Cow or Buffalo milk preferably organic

Juice of 1 Lemon

1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1 tsp Salt
Herbs and spices combination of your choice


Cooking Instructions





   


-       Boil the milk in a pan 


-       Just when it starts boiling add the lemon juice/vinegar, salt and spices/herb









    Slow the flame, and let the milk simmer and curdle, add a bit of more acid (lemon juice and or vinegar) if it is not curdling

-When you see that all curd is separated from the whey, the curdled milk should be floating above the yellowish almost transparent water like whey. Take off the heat and let it stand for 5 minutes

 Line a strainer with cheesecloth or plain white muslin, and set it inside a large bowl. Pour the mixture into the cloth and stir it gently to drain off the whey. 




 Let all the whey drain and the soft cheese remains on the cloth

- I sprinkle a bit of salt on the curd at this stage since I like my cheese salty





-       Fold the ends of the cheesecloth over in a form of a little bag, then put a weight over it. I use a huge clean and washed pebble or sometime my marble pestel and mortan. Let it drain and stand like this for about 1 hour.

-   Slowly open the cheese cloth and lift the slab of your beautiful cottage cheese.




Flavouring with Herb and Spice:

Use any one of the following to flavour, dont be shy experimenting with your 



1-   ½ tsp Minced fresh red chillies and toasted garlic flakes

2-   1 tsp fine chopped coriander  and red chillies flakes

3-   freshly cracked black peppers

4-  1 tsp finely chopped fresh oregano and 2 tbsp finely chopped walnuts

5-  1 tsp finely chopped basil/mint
6-  1-1/2 tsp chopped olives/capers or both
7- Toasted zeera
8- Chopped dry fruits like raisins/apricots these taste great on its own or with sweet muffins or crackers, not for curries or savoury dishes. 

Serving Ideas:

Malai Kofta
Palak Paneer
Paneer Kebabs
Sandwitches
Omelettes
Salads




Olive and basil cheese sandwich on rocket and sundried tomatoes garnished with capers

Chillie garlic flavoured cottage cheese and rocket sandwich



Basil Flavoured Cottage Cheese with Crackers
 
Spinach and cottage cheese filled omelette





5 comments:

  1. A wonderful recipe

    Ufaq Jamal

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  2. hey these are luvly ideas to try :-)just curious about one thing, what did you do with that whey(the liquid separated from the curd). as much as I have read in different articles. whey it self is a very high protein item and is used in whey powders for body builders.... can you please share how we can make this liquid useful and use it in drinks/juices?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fatima, I use the whey for different things add them in soups, daal, or rice are few everyday cooking that i use whey for.

      Delete
  3. Hi Farah, I tried this recipe but my cheese came out very brittle and flaky. It didn't make a perfect slab like you have in your photos as it has cracks and breaks easily. Any idea what could've gone wrong and how it can be improved.
    Thanks, Faiza

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Faiza, cracks are fine so being flaky, brittle is not good. I am not sure why this happened, did you use buffalo milk? using boxed pasteurised milk does not work with cottage cheese. Also we need to be careful while draining whey, not manipulate or stir the curd, and bring the cheesecloth together carefully in a little bag like shape and put a weight and leave for 60-90 min max.

      Delete