How do you take paneer (homemade chena) up a notch? By grilling it with a surprise accent!
This one explodes with flavor at every bite, from a secret filling: spicy Indian-pickle brine. Make the pressed chena as here. To stuff: slit the cheese block into two flat halves and brush with Indian pickle brine on the two insides surfaces as shown in picture. Press the two halves back together into whole. Brush the outside surface lightly with EVOO and grill for 3-4 minutes on each side. Enjoy!
Green Egg Grilled Homemade Paneer. This weekend menu had a grilled spatchcocked chicken and homemade paneer. Both used an Indian curry spice rub. Guess which one got the crown. The paneer! The irony was that a two quart milk carton was turning sour (was it due to the unusually hot summer days?) and with my Indian sensibility of waste, I turned the on-its-way-to-turning-sour milk into paneer and whey.
NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:
- The pressed homemade cheese is perfect for this.
- Store bought Indian mango pickle was used here. You could marinade for a few hours or refrigerate overnight in a ziplock bag.
- Since the grilling is light, a stove top grill also works out well. But as it turned out in the second one, the paneer was resilient even to the Big Green Egg. So, no fear there.