This morning when I woke up I had no clue that my milk was going to expire today. I had 3 quarts of milk left in my fridge and it was important to use it up than pour the milk down the kitchen sink. I had been thinking of making home made ricotta for a while. Quickly I googled to research on how to make ricotta cheese? Most of them suggested using whole milk (I used 2 % milk), cream, some acidic ingredient like lemon or vinegar and salt. Since I always use vinegar for making paneer, I decided to make ricotta using yogurt. It was straight forward, almost like making paneer. The only difference is that, paneer tends to get chewy while ricotta is creamy. Within an hour I was done making the cheese and warm fresh creamy ricotta tasted delicious. Apart from enjoying the fresh cheese, I experimented by adding spices and herbs to the cheese, which was perfect with crackers. I did not add salt, because I was serving them with salty crackers. My entry to Healthy Me and Healthy Us
Gadgets:
Saucepan
Spatula
Measuring Cups and Spoons
Colander
Cheese Cloth
Bowl
Kitchen Thermometer
Kitchen Thermometer
Ingredients:
Organic 2% Milk - 3 Quarts ( not ultra-pasteurized) but whole milk would be better.
Fresh Cream - 1/2 cup
Yogurt - 1 1/4 cup
Salt ( optional if you are serving with salty crackers)
Salt ( optional if you are serving with salty crackers)
1. Heat the milk along with cream and make sure to keep stirring. When it starts to boil ( or reach 170 degrees F) add the yogurt and milk well. Soon the milk will curdle and the milk solids will separate.
2. Place the colander over a large bowl and line the colander with the cheese cloth.
3. Pour the cheese along with the whey into the colander and filter. In 1/2 an hour the creamy cheese will remain in the colander. Remove, transfer the cheese to a container and store in the fridge or make spreadable cheese with various seasonings.
4. To 3 Tbsp of cheese, add Italian seasoning and give it a good mix. Make it into a ball or if you have moulds shape the cheese. Various herbs, crushed chillies etc can be used to make cheese for crackers.
Great idea of using milk milk n making cheese
ReplyDeleteOmg, you rock srimathi, dunno i never had guts to make ricotta cheese at home,loved that spiced ones.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this Srimathi, very useful post..
ReplyDeletelooks delicious & yummy!!
ReplyDeleteDelicious ricotta cheese srimathi.
ReplyDeleteVery useful post.Detailed explanation.
ReplyDelete