Recipe | How to Make Cottage Cheese and a Quick Dessert – Quick Sandesh
Cottage Cheese is probably one of the most versatile man made food products in food industry. Paneer as known in Hindi is widely used in North Indian cuisine and is gaining popularity among the health conscious. It can be easily transformed into numerous recipes including desserts, curries, bread, cakes and what not, giving a peculiar creamy texture to the cooked dish.
Composition: Cottage cheese is the by-product of milk, pure and most natural food product with no additives in it. Milk is curdled using an acidic culture, the resultant product is a mild flavored, non acidic and a creamy consistency solid.
Cottage cheese is not aged or processes like other commercial cheeses, and cannot be stored for long for the same reason.
How to make Homemade Cottage cheese
Ingredients;
- 1 liter skimmed milk
- 1 tsp of lemon juice or 3-4 tsp of sour curd
Method: Boil the milk in a vessel and add the juice of lemon or curds in the boiling milk. I normally use curd to make cottage cheese, as I get much softer variety.
Keep boiling till the whey separates.
Take a muslin cloth and put it over another big vessel covering the mouth of it. Pour the whole mixture in the muslin cloth and drain the whey.
Let the liquid fully drain from the curdled milk. Fresh cottage cheese is ready for use.
Tie the cloth and press it with a heavy weight, if you wish to make chunks of the cottage cheese.
Health Benefits;
- High levels of protein make it a prudent diet for kids, pregnant women and body builders.
- It is low in fat and calories.
- Good for building strong bones in growing kids due to high calcium.
- It is low in carbohydrates.
- Low sodium in cottage cheese makes it a good choice for people with high blood pressure and heart ailments.
- It is easily digested.
- Whey which is the residual liquid is very healthy.
Prudent way to use Cottage cheese;
- Use skimmed milk to make a low fat cottage cheese.
- Best way is to consume it in its pure form.
- Sprinkle the crumbled cheese on salads and raitas.
- Mix it with any seasonal fresh fruit and add a tsp of sugar for a great dessert.
- Lasagna, cheesecake and other baked goodies made with cottage cheese are a delicacy.
- Veggie dips made with adding herbs in cottage cheese are good any steamed or baked vegetables.
- Spread the fresh cottage cheese on a toast for a quick and healthy breakfast.
- Mashed potato with cottage cheese can be fun recipe for kids.
- Knead the dough for bread or chapattis in the whey to reap the health benefits
Cottage Cheese Peda
Ingredients;
- 1 cup of Fresh Cottage cheese
- 1/4 cup of powder sugar
- A pinch of Saffron
- 1/2 tsp of Cardamom powder
Clean and wipe a mould, I used my mould for making ice cubes. Take a small amount of the prepared mix and put it in the moulds. Press it lightly.
Method: Take a flat vessel and crumble the freshly made cottage cheese. Add rest of the ingredients. Mix in thoroughly using light strokes.
Refrigerate for 3-4 hours before serving.
Variations;
- Add coarsely ground Pistachio nuts (pista) in the crumbled cottage cheese and roll in desired shape.
- Blend the fresh cottage cheese with 2-3 tsp of milk, add any fruit puree and refrigerate for a cool dessert.
- Mix in ready made fruit syrups such as strawberry or chocolate syrup and make balls. Refrigerate and serve.
- Add 1/2 cup of Milkmaid (concentrated and sweetened milk) and roll into a delicious sweet. Cover it with grated coconut.
A refreshing and delicious healthy dessert is ready to savor for any time.
Stay connected for another quick and delicious sweet recipe, Rasgulla – an Indian delicacy made with Cottage cheese. It is easy and healthy sweet with low fats.
wow..sanjeeta..nice step by step pictures and jiffy dessert looks yum..
Perfect way to make paneer looks soo gud!
Wowww.. simple and delicious recipe.. thanks for the awesome recipe 🙂
wow….very nice…and nicely explained………..looks yummy
lovely pictorial Sanjeeta. love the no cooking version of Sandesh. looks deicious.
that is indeed a great idea!
I love this! Cottage cheese is a favorite of mine. You did such a great job of explaining the process for making it. I’m curious, is there any taste difference between making your own and eating store bought?
The cottage cheese which I explained here is different from the commercially available cheese which are matured for long before use. Cottage cheese is mild and is not aged or ripened, and is used within short duration. It has a very short shelf life due to the presence of moisture in it (whey).
As far as taste goes, commercial cheese are salty (salt is used to mature and preserve the cheese for long) and cottage cheese is devoid of salt.
Hope you got your doubt clear Julie 🙂 Take care.
beautiful post …dessert looks really delicious
Satya
http://www.superyummyrecipes.com
Sanjeeta,
Good info on cottage cheese, i like the quick dessert. Easy to put it together.
Very nice healthy ,simple yet tasty recepie
Very nice …
That is such a neat idea. This is also high in protein content – makes perfect snacks for kids. Forget kids, I would eat them all too!
wow what yummy and simple recipe. My kids would love this. Happy to follow you.
loved the dessert very much. actually loved the entire post with lots of info on paneer. you have a lovely space, do visit mine when time permits..
Very fresh and easy recipe. I guess if we love fresh paneer this must only make it better with sugar and saffron.
looks really awesome, using skimmed milk is a great idea, thanks for sharing
I bookmarked and surely making it. Looks wonderful !!!
Wow..the simple cottage cheese given a stylish makeover..great idea!!
Beautiful, every step so clear!!Looking forward to trying it.
it looks yummy!
Sanjeeta…this is always fascinating to me. Your making of cottage cheese is incredibly similar to how we make Italian Ricotta. Actually…when I say ‘we’ I mean the nationality and not myself personally. At least not yet.
I really enjoyed how you put this post together. Very informational and lively ;o)
Ciao for now and flavourful wishes,
Claudia
Paneer is indeed a “wonder” food, in my opinion. And it helps that we all love it.
I especially liked your mould tray, very cute. 🙂
Curd cheese is one of those dishes, like crepes or omelets, that knows no geographical boundaries. Your paneer looks and sounds lovely. Your explanation as to how it is made is very clear and most helpful. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Blessings…Mary
thats a very delicious one.. very simple too..
Very interesting post! Bet it is a delicious dessert with the good cardamom!
Wow, very tasty recipe!!
This is such a detailed and elaborate recipe! Love your blog and will come here often!
Thanks so much for sharing this, I used to make my own Greek style yogurt all the time and really enjoyed it. This looks super and I’m hoping the kids will love it.
I am so glad that we’ve ‘met’ because I adore your site! I just bought cheese cloth so I can try my hand at making cheese. This is the first recipe I’m going to do.
Have a great rest of your week!
That is fantastic!! How much cottage does it make??
@Thea, one liter of milk will make about one cup of cottage cheese.
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