Sujatha: I am glad to find you were successful despite my instructions

Sudhanshu: Yes, I know, I did try dry roasting the cottage cheese without butter, but it doesn’t clump unless you add the butter. What you can do if you want to decrease the butter content is to throw away the liquid (the whey and melted butter mix) that remains after the cottage cheese clumps. You are right, paneer makhani is a calorie and fat minefield, we can only try to reduce that a bit Let me know if you find any more tips for improving this recipe.

Thanks for the post idea, as well as the recipe!

Personally, I put the heat on medium-low, let the full-fat milk boil, then bring to a simmer and add the lemon juice (I usually need about a lemon-and-a-half of juice to make the milk separate as much as possible). Let it simmer for a couple of minutes and stir gently so it continues to curdle, then turn off heat and let stand for about 5 minutes. Then strain, add the curd, and let hang overnight (I just leave it tied to the tap in the sink). In the morning, do the board thingy.

I also add a little salt and cumin along with the curd – it’s not authentic, but it does make the paneer just a touch more interesting.

Also, since we are sharing tips, while the curdled milk is straining, I tend to add a couple of tblspoons of plain curd and mix it around in the paneer. It somehow helps it ’set’ better.