Fresh home made paneer is delicious but you do not need to throw away the paneer whey either. We turn it into a delicious paneer whey soup.
Paneer is quintessential to indian cooking. Paneer is a fresh un-aged pressed cheese which does not melt and was traditionally made to use up left over milk by curdling it using an acid like lime juice. If you are in Wisconsin, one of our favorite local paneer is the BharatMa Paneer made by the Speciality Cheese company. We have found it at Willy street co-op in Madison often times. However, making your own paneer at home is also easy as well as highly rewarding.
Check out this fantastic post for making fresh paneer at home by our friends The Cooks of Cake and Kindness. Do share it with your friends because more people deserve fresh flavorful paneer. The by-product of making the paneer at home is the paneer whey that is left behind after the curds for paneer are strained. We made paneer today using grass-fed milk and lime-juice.
We had about 2 cups of paneer whey left over after straining the paneer curds. It already has hints of bright lime juice seasoning from the paneer making process. As mentioned we did not throw away the paneer whey, but melted some thinly chopped onions in butter and used the whey as a stock for our paneer whey soup. We garnished our paneer whey soup with fresh coarse ground pepper, cilantro and shavings of our home made paneer.
We followed that up with Palak (Spinach) Paneer for dinner using our cone of fresh paneer.
Our tip for storing paneer is to treat it as cheese and store it in the refrigerator instead of the freezer to enjoy the flavors and textures of your efforts. Use it in the first few days of making to enjoy its freshness to the fullest.
Paneer Whey Soup
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
Description
We use the paneer whey obtained while making fresh paneer at home to create a quick and comforting soup. We flavor it simply using the combination of butter melted onions and black pepper. We avoid the temptation to add cumin or green chillies to retain the subtlety of flavors.
Ingredients
- 1 Tsp butter / ghee
- 2 cups Paneer Whey
- 0.5 cups thinly chopped onion
- 2 Tsp finely chopped cilantro stems and leaves
- 2 Tsp Paneer shavings
- 0.5 Tsp Freshly Coarse ground black pepper
- 0.5 Tsp salt
Instructions
- On medium heat melt the 1 tsp butter or ghee.
- Add the finely chopped onions to the butter to melt the onions so that they are cooked without changing their color. If needed add a few tea spoons of whey to control the heat and give yourself some security against burning the onions.
- Add the paneer whey and simmer on medium heat till stock
- Taste and add salt if required. This already has an essence of lime flavor from the paneer making process but if needed you could squeeze just a little bit of fresh lime.
- Ladle into bowls
- Garnish with chopped cilantro, paneer shavings and freshly coarse ground black pepper.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Category: Soup
- Cuisine: Indian
Looks good! Will definitely try this. I used to throw away the whey all this time.
Throw awhey…hehehe. Sorry couldn’t resist that one
Hehehe 🙂
For sure and linked recipe for paneer is by Gayatri btw 🙂