Ricotta or Paneer

This makes about 1.5 cups of cheese


Ingredients:
1/2 gallon of whole milk (lower fats = less cheese)
1 lemon (it's not a bad idea to have extra on hand)
salt (and pepper too if you want)

Equipment:
saucepan large enough for the milk (this works well with a double boiler too)
mesh strainer
cheese cloth

For Paneer:
a setup to press the cheese (I used two containers that nest reasonably well, a pie plate to catch the moisture, and a large bowl to fill with water as a weight.)

METHOD FOR BOTH CHEESES

1. slowly bring the milk and salt to a boil, stir often to avoid scorching

2. the instant it boils, turn off your heat and squeeze the juice from the lemon through the strainer (to catch pulp and pips) into the milk, stirring gently. Curds will form, stir just enough to keep them from sticking to the pan.

3. line the strainer with cheesecloth. You may want to reserve the whey, if so place a container below the strainer.

4. when the curds seem to have separated from the whey, gently pour everything into the cheesecloth. Allow this to rest until it stops running.

5. At this point, you have a soft ricotta. If you wish, you can allow it to drain longer, or even hang the cheesecloth to draw out more moisture.

METHOD FOR PANEER

6. Gently press the cheese into an even depth (the best is a rectangle about 3/4" high) and fold the cheesecloth around it.

7. Press with increasing weight until the cheese is firm and no more whey is coming out.