Vegan paneer cheese recipe: Everything you need to know

Indian cottage cheese or paneer is widely accepted and used in making nice tasty oriental, continental, and Indian dishes that have truly dominated the culinary world. Sadly, being that paneer is made mostly from dairy products, vegans are left searching for suitable alternatives or vegan paneer cheese recipes. 

Paneer cheese is made from heated and curdled milk with fresh vegetable acid-like lemon juice and is quite soft and doesn’t melt or age. 

Over the years, Paneer cheese has been the subject of debate in some food discussions like: can pregnant women eat paneer?

This article is all about Paneer and Vegan Paneer cheese recipes. It reveals all you need to know about Paneer Cheese and even helps with some great-tasting alternatives you could try. Without wasting much time, let’s get this started.  

Is Paneer cheese suitable for vegans?

Although paneer is widely used in preparing truly remarkable vegetarian Indian cuisines and delicacies around the world, there has been a lot of information out there stating that the Indian cottage cheese might not be suitable for a stricter vegetarian or a vegan palate or asking questions like is Paneer Cheese vegan? 

Well, before we can decide if paneer cheese is suitable for vegans, we would need a basic understanding of what paneer cheese is made up of. 

You see, Paneer cheese is made with 3 key ingredients:

  • Milk (from a Buffalo or Cow),
  • Lemon juice or vinegar, and
  • Salt.

So in answering the question, Is paneer suitable for vegans? The obvious answer is No!

Why is paneer cheese not vegan?

Although it might be suitable for vegetarians, it might not be suitable for vegans.

This is because paneer is made almost completely from dairy products (the buffalo and cow’s milk), and from what we know about vegans, it might not be the best for them as they do not eat any product coming from an animal. 

But don’t be sad, there are lots of vegan substitutes for paneer cheese, and since we are such nice people, we will be listing quite a few. We would also be listing the process and procedure for making vegan Paneer cheese of your own.

How to make vegan paneer cheese?

As a strict vegetarian or vegan wanting to try some paneer, it is highly recommended that you try out some of these alternatives or substitutes to Paneer cheese.

Extra Firm Tofu

A quick heads up,  you would see a lot of tofu in this article, and although it is not the same as paneer cheese, it does share a lot of similarities and could pretty much be used in the same way as paneer cheese.

Now extra firm tofu is a rather more compact form of tofu than regular tofu. When compared to other tofu varieties, it is by far the chewiest and could fit any hearty dish best. It is incredibly versatile, and its versatility is the reason it could easily be used as a substitute for paneer in most vegan Paneer Cheese recipes.   

The process of making vegan paneer cheese made from tofu is quite easy, as it requires little to no effort and could be ready in a relatively short time. It is pretty much the same process as making regular paneer with just a few but still key differences.

When making regular paneer, you would require milk from a buffalo or a full-fat cow, but when making the tofu vegan alternative, you would need to swap that buffalo or cow milk with fat-filled soy milk.

You could then boil that fat-filled soy milk in a pot with lemon juice or vinegar, drain it for some time, and then proceed to strain it. After a few hours of drying it out, what you would be left with would be a slightly acidic flavored soft but crumbly white tofu that could be tossed in some naan bread or curry. 

If you aren’t a fan of tofu, or you’ve probably had way too much tofu and are probably tired of it. There are some alternatives to that vegan paneer cheese recipe that you could try out.

Extra-firm tofu does however have a lower calorie count than regular paneer but its high nutritional value does make up for all of its lapses.

Vegan Mozzarella

Another great vegan substitute for paneer cheese would be Vegan Mozzarella. It is made entirely of cashew milk, pegged with coconut oil, ager powder, sea salt, lemon juice, garlic powder, tapioca starch nutritional yeast, water, and of course, dairy-free yogurt.

When looking at Mozzarella brands, Miyoko has been one of our top picks. Its low-calorie content, which is a lot less than paneer, makes it a wonderful low-fat vegan replacement for regular paneer. The following process is used in making Miyoko’s vegan paneer cheese recipe.

Fill a bowl with filtered water, add a few pinches of salt and about 5-6 cubes of ice and keep aside. Then you add the cashew milk, garlic powder, coconut oil, soy milk, tapioca starch, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt, and yogurt to a blender with high power.

Blend for a couple of minutes until the mixture is very smooth. You then add the mixture to a pot filled with agar powder and let it heat over a stove while we stir continuously for a few minutes.

Keep stirring until it begins to thicken up, then you scoop it out, then pour it into the filtered water we kept aside. You then place the bowl in the fridge for a few hours, and there you have it! Vegan Mozzarella.

Tempeh 

Tempeh is a great Vegan alternative to the regular Paneer cheese. It is a lot like tofu, and the only major difference is that it is a lot denser and with higher levels of calories and proteins.

Tempeh’s similar to regular tofu because tempeh is also a soy-based product. It is, however, more coarse and more solid than regular tofu. 

It is a suitable replacement for paneer cheese and is perfect for situations where you might need a quick vegan protein or probably have too much tofu and are sick of it. 

Tempeh might not be as soft as Paneer cheese, but if you happen to roast it or perhaps stir fry it with curry, you could really boost its protein content. The ingredients required to make tempeh would be Soybeans, Vinegar, Tempeh starter (like yogurt), and banana leaves.

Using the ingredients listed above, you would need to soak the soybeans in a bowl of water for a few hours (let’s say 8 hours), then drain. The soaked soybeans are then added to a pot filled with water and then left to boil over medium heat until enough foam is skimmed out.

After a few minutes, add vinegar and let it cook for a few more minutes until the soybeans are tender (not mushy). You then sieve the beans and place them in the banana leaves (place them in the center of the leaf), and then wrap them like short parcels using a toothpick to hold them in place.

You then move the parcels to a warm location with enough air and allow them to ferment for a few hours (26-48 hours), after which the tempeh should be ready to use.

Learn more about the original paneer by checking out some comparisons like milk vs paneer and yogurt vs paneer.

Can paneer be made from coconut milk?

From what we have established so far, paneer could be made from a few alternatives like soy milk, cashew milk, and even almond milk. But can it be made from Coconut milk?

The answer to this question depends on how much coconut milk is used. You see, paneer cheese made entirely from coconut milk has been found to taste a lot different from regular paneer and not in a good way.

However, if you prepare paneer with half coconut milk and half cow milk, you get great-tasting paneer cheese that is widely recommended and widely regarded as “top shelf”. Unfortunately, with the addition of cow milk to coconut milk, it no longer remains vegan friendly and is definitely not recommended as a suitable vegan paneer cheese recipe.

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