Paneer

{{Short description|Type of fresh cheese in South Asian cuisine}} {{Use Indian English|date=March 2026}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}} {{Infobox food | name = Paneer | image = Panir Paneer Indian cheese fresh.jpg | caption = Paneer | alternate_name = Ponir, Indian cottage cheese | region = South Asia | type = Cheese | main_ingredient = Cow or buffalo milk }} '''Paneer''' ({{IPA|hns|/pəˈniːr/ |pron}}) is a fresh acid-set cheese, common in South Asian cuisine, made from cow milk or buffalo milk.<ref name=Kumar11/> It is a non-aged, non-melting soft cheese made by curdling milk with an acid, such as lemon juice or citric acid. Paneer is predominantly used in north Indian dishes and is commonly used throughout India due to its versatility as an ingredient in diverse dishes.

Its origins are not known, with doubtful references in the Vedas of ancient India; other theories include a Persian origin and a Portuguese introduction of the use of acid to form cheeses in the 17th century.

==Etymology== The word ''paneer'' entered English from the Hindi-Urdu term ''panīr'', which comes from Persian {{Transliteration|fa|panir}} ({{Wikt-lang|fa|پنیر}}) 'cheese', which comes from Old Iranian.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |access-date=19 August 2024 |title=Entry: paneer |url=https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=paneer |website=The American Heritage Dictionary}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Nundolal Dey |title=Rasātala or the Under-world |journal=The Indian Historical Quarterly |volume=2 |issue=1–2 |year=1985 |publisher=Ramanand Vidya Bhawan |pages=236–237 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oTMKAQAAIAAJ |quote=Panir is a Persian word, though derived from the common Sanskrit words ''Pai'' (Payas = milk) and ''Nir'' (nīra = water) meaning milk without water.}}</ref> Armenian {{Transliteration|hy|panir}} ({{lang|hy|պանիր}}), Azerbaijani {{lang|az|pəndir}}, Bengali ''ponir'' (পনির), Turkish {{lang|tr|peynir}} and Turkmen {{Transliteration|tk|peýnir}}, Kurdish penîr all derive from Persian {{Transliteration|fa|panir}}, and refer to cheese of any type.<ref>{{cite book |last=Davidson |first=Alan |editor-last=Jaine |editor-first=Tom |title=The Oxford Companion to Food |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0191018251 |edition=2nd |quote=panir and peynir, the Persian and Turkish words for 'cheese' (...)}}</ref>

==History== {{Further information|Chhena}} [[File:Sp rajjo.jpg|thumb|alt=A gravy-based dish with many thick cheese cubes together with some vegetables and spices is shown. In the lower parts of the image, some coriander leaves have been added on top as a garnish.|''Shahi paneer'', a dish from the Indian subcontinent with paneer as a primary ingredient]]

The origin of paneer is debated. Ancient Indian, Afghan, Iranian and Portuguese origins have been proposed for paneer.<ref name="Sanjeev_2010"/><ref>{{cite book |first1=Timothy G. |last1=Roufs |first2=Kathleen |last2=Smyth Roufs |title=Sweet Treats Around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture |year=2014 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781610692212 |page=168 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M_eCBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA168}}</ref>

Legends about Krishna make several references to milk, butter, ghee and dahi (yogurt), but do not mention sour milk cheese.<ref name="Harlan_2000">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tuor2vcVtiQC&pg=PA57 |title=Milk - Beyond the Dairy: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 1999 |editor-first=Harlan |editor-last=Walker |publisher=Oxford Symposium |year=2000 |isbn=9781903018064 |pages=53–57}}</ref> According to Arthur Berriedale Keith, a kind of cheese is "perhaps referred to" in Rigveda 6.48.18.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6TVLlPvuMAC&pg=PA209 |title=Vedic Index of Names and Subjects |author-link=Arthur Berriedale Keith |first=Arthur Berriedale |last=Keith |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1995 |isbn=9788120813328 |page=209}}</ref> However, Otto Schrader (1890) believes that the Rigveda only mentions "a skin of sour milk, not cheese in the proper sense".<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.107733 |title=Prehistoric Antiquities of the Aryan Peoples |author-link=Otto Schrader (philologist) |first=Otto |last=Schrader |publisher=C. Griffin |year=1890 |page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.107733/page/n339 319]}}</ref> Vedic literature refers to a substance that is interpreted by some authors, such as K. T. Achaya, Om Prakash and Sanjeev Kapoor, as a possible form of paneer, but without definitive evidence.<ref name="Sanjeev_2010">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=heG2bdW_NrMC&pg=PA3 |title=Paneer |first=Sanjeev |last=Kapoor |author-link=Sanjeev Kapoor |publisher=Popular Prakashan |year=2010 |isbn=9788179913307 |page=3}}</ref>

Catherine Donnelly, author of ''The Oxford Companion to Cheese'' (2016), mentions that Vedic literature refers to cheese production made with the aid of barks of palash tree (''Butea monosperma''), fruits like jujube (''Ziziphus mauritiana'') and creeper like putika with coagulating enzymes, "as well as Dadhanvat, a cheese-like substance made with and without pores". According to Catherine Donnelly, these plant substances may have contained rennet-like enzymes and notes that the "Vedas may include some of the earliest known references to rennet-coagulated cheeses".<ref>''The Oxford Companion to Cheese'', 2016. p. 373.</ref> ''Lokopakara'' text dated to the 10th century gives two recipes for coagulated cheeses made from buffalo milk for making sweets using plants and roots. According to the text, buffalo milk was coagulated using roots of amaranth plant or leaves of marsh barbel (''Hygrophila auriculata''); the soft cheese produced in this manner was called ''Haluvuga''. In the second recipe, buffalo milk was coagulated with Indian mallow (''Abutilon indicum'') or country mallow (''Sida cordifolia'') and was made into balls for sweets.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ramachandran |first1=Ammini |title=Lokopakara – Part III Recipes |url=https://peppertrail.com/recipes-from-lokopakara/ |website=Peppertrail |access-date=22 September 2012}}</ref> ''Manasollasa'', a Sanskrit-language text by the 12th-century king Someshvara III, describes ''Kshiraprakara'', a similar sweet food prepared from milk solids after separating boiled milk using buttermilk.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ena Desai |chapter=Gastronomy of Bengal |editor=Lotika Varadarajan |title=Indo-Portuguese Encounters: Journeys in Science, Technology, and Culture |volume=II |year=2006 |publisher=Indian National Science Academy / Centra de Historia de Alem-Mar, Universidade Nova de Lisboa / Aryan Books International |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5LfaAAAAMAAJ |page=668|isbn=9788173053023 }}</ref><ref name="Michael2011">{{Cite book |last=Michael Krondl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gN6ySQnUnfwC&pg=PA7 |title=Sweet Invention: A History of Dessert |publisher=Chicago Review Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-55652-954-2 |pages=7–8|quote= "In another recipe he gives directions for a syrup-soaked fritter many modern Indians would recognize. To make it, the cook is told to curdle warm milk by adding buttermilk, then strain it to remove the liquid. (Nowadays this fresh cheese would be called chhana.) The resulting curds are then mixed with a little rice flour, formed into balls, and fried in ghee. Finally, they are soaked in syrup."}}</ref>

Another theory is that like the word itself, paneer originated in Persianate lands and spread to the Indian subcontinent under Muslim rule.<ref name="origin">{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JTTxAAAAMAAJ |title=The Technology of Traditional Milk Products in Developing Countries |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |year=1990 |page=169 |isbn=9789251028995}}</ref> Paneer, according to this theory, was developed and moulded to suit local tastes under these rulers, and the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire are when paneer as currently known developed. Another theory states that paneer is Afghan in origin and spread to India from the lands that make up Afghanistan.<ref name="origin"/> National Dairy Research Institute states that paneer was introduced into India by Afghan and Iranian invaders.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1zs4NzrRWhQC&pg=PA231 |title=Feta & Related Cheeses |first1=R. K. |last1=Robinson |first2=A. Y. |last2=Tamime |publisher=CRC Press |year=1996 |isbn=9780747600770 |page=231}}</ref> Based on texts such as ''Charaka Samhita'', BN Mathur wrote that the earliest evidence of a heat-acid coagulated milk product in India can be traced to 75–300 CE, in the Kushan-Satavahana era.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5lpMAAAAYAAJ |first=K.V.S.S. |last=Rao |title=Paneer technology — A review |journal=Indian Journal of Dairy Science |volume=45 |publisher=Indian Dairy Science Association |year=1992 |page=281}}</ref> Sunil Kumar ''et al''.(2011) interpret this product as the present-day paneer. According to them, paneer is indigenous to the north-western part of South Asia and was introduced in India by Afghan and Iranian travellers.<ref name=Kumar11>{{cite journal |last1=Kumar |first1=Sunil |last2=Rai |first2=D.C. |last3=Niranjan |first3=K. |last4=Bhat |first4=Zuhaib |title=Paneer—An Indian soft cheese variant: a review |journal=Journal of Food Science and Technology |volume=51 |issue=5 |pages=821–831 |publisher=Springer |date=2011 |doi=10.1007/s13197-011-0567-x |quote="People during the Kusana and Saka Satavahana periods (AD75–300) used to consume a solid mass, whose description seems to the earliest reference to the present day paneer" |pmid=24803688 |pmc=4008736}}</ref>

Another theory is that the Portuguese may have introduced the technique of "breaking" milk with acid to Bengal in the 17th century. Thus, according to this theory, Indian acid-set cheeses such as paneer and chhena were first prepared in Bengal, under Portuguese influence.<ref name="Harlan_2000"/><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=orHWFRMKf4EC&pg=PA33 |title=India: Food and Cooking: The Ultimate Book on Indian Cuisine |first=Pat |last=Chapman |author-link=Pat Chapman (food writer) |publisher=New Holland |year=2009 |isbn=9781845376192 |page=33}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efOjAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 |title=Cultures of Milk |first=Andrea S. |last=Wiley |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2014 |isbn=9780674369702 |page=2}}</ref> A type of smoked cheese called Bandel cheese was introduced by the Portuguese in Bengal, which is distinct from paneer.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tamang |first1=Jyoti Prakash |title=Ethnic Fermented Foods and Beverages of India: Science History and Culture |date=2 March 2020 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-981-15-1486-9 |page=676 |language=en}}</ref>

== Nutrition and preparation == {{Nutritionalvalue | name = paneer | kJ = 1251 | protein = 15.9 g | fat = 15.5 g | carbs = 23.3 g | sugars = 22.5 g | iron_mg = 0 | calcium_mg = 597 | magnesium_mg = 58 | phosphorus_mg = 490 | potassium_mg = 728 | sodium_mg = 185 | zinc_mg = 2.04 | vitA_ug = 155 | betacarotene_ug = 34 | source_usda = 1 | source = [http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2666/2 nutritiondata.com] }}

Paneer is prepared by adding food acid, such as lemon juice, vinegar, citric acid or dahi (yogurt),<ref>Adiraja Dasa. ''The Hare Krishna book of Vegetarian Cooking''. Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1989, {{ISBN|0-902677-07-1}}</ref> to hot milk to separate the curds from the whey. The curds are drained in muslin or cheesecloth and the excess water is pressed out. The resulting paneer is dipped in chilled water for 2–3 hours to improve its texture and appearance. From this point, the preparation of paneer diverges based on its use and regional tradition.{{cn|date=July 2025}}

In north Indian cuisines, the curds are wrapped in cloth, placed under a heavy weight such as a stone slab for two to three hours, and then cut into cubes for use in curries. Pressing for a shorter time (approximately 20 minutes) results in a softer, fluffier cheese.{{cn|date=July 2025}}

In Bengali, Odia and other East Indian cuisines, the chhena are beaten or kneaded by hand into a dough-like consistency, heavily salted and hardened to produce paneer (called ''ponir''), which is typically eaten in slices at teatime with biscuits or various types of bread, deep-fried in a light batter or used in cooking.{{cn|date=July 2025}}

In the area surrounding the city of Surat in Gujarat, surti paneer is made by draining the curds of buffalo milk and ripening them in whey.<ref>{{cite news |last=Menon |first=Smitha |title=8 cheeses you didn't know exist in India |work=Condé Nast Traveler |date=5 October 2015 |url=http://www.cntraveller.in/story/8-cheeses-you-didn-t-know-exist-india/ |accessdate=25 March 2026}}</ref>

== Culinary use ==

Paneer is the most common type of cheese used in traditional cuisines from the Indian subcontinent. Paneer dishes can be sweet, like shahi paneer, or spicy/hot, like chilli paneer.

Paneer recipes include:

* Matar paneer (paneer with peas)<ref name="Good Food">{{cite web |title=Paneer |url=https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/search?q=paneer |website=BBC Good Food |access-date=25 March 2026}}</ref> * Shahi paneer (paneer cooked in a Mughlai curry)<ref name="Kapoor 2017">{{cite web |last=Kapoor |first=Sanjeev |author-link=Sanjeev Kapoor |title=Shahi Paneer |url=https://www.sanjeevkapoor.com/Recipe/Shahi-Paneer-Turban-Tadka-FoodFood.html |publisher=Sanjeev Kapoor |date=1 November 2017}}</ref> * Paneer tikka (a vegetarian version of chicken tikka, paneer placed on skewers and roasted)<ref name="Kapoor 2010"/> * Paneer tikka masala<ref name="Kapoor 2010">{{cite book |last=Kapoor |first=Sanjeev |author-link=Sanjeev Kapoor |title=Paneer |year=2010 |publisher=Popular Prakashan |isbn=978-8179913307 |page=3}}</ref> * Chilli paneer (an Indo-Chinese preparation with spicy chilies, garnished with spring onions)<ref name="Good Food"/> * Kadai paneer (paneer with bell peppers and spices)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-03-27 |title=Express recipes: How to make Kadhai Paneer in six easy steps |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/food-wine/express-recipes-how-to-make-kadhai-paneer-in-six-easy-steps/ |access-date=2023-06-06 |website=The Indian Express en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Shahi Paneer, Kadai Paneer And More: 5 Classic Paneer Curry Recipes That You Must Try |url=https://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/shahi-paneer-kadai-paneer-and-more-5-classic-paneer-curry-recipes-that-you-must-try-2602908 |access-date=2023-06-06 |website=NDTV Food }}</ref> * Paneer pakora (paneer fritters)<ref name="Good Food"/> * Palak paneer (paneer with spinach)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Palak Paneer Recipe |url=https://food.ndtv.com/recipe-palak-paneer-98895 |access-date=25 March 2026 |website=NDTV Food}}</ref> * Khoya paneer (a curry with khoya soft cheese as well as paneer, eaten with bread)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://food.ndtv.com/recipe-khoya-paneer-951305 |title=Khoya Paneer Recipe |website=NDTV Food |accessdate=25 March 2025}}</ref> * Paneer makhani (Paneer with butter, tomatoes and cashews)<ref name="Good Food"/>

<gallery class=center mode=nolines widths="160" heights="160"> File:Matar-Paneer.JPG|Mattar paneer, a vegetarian dish File:Paneer tikka.jpg|Paneer tikka, grilled on a skewer File:Yummy Palak Paneer.jpg|Palak paneer, a spinach-based curry dish File:Ishwar Paneer.JPG|Paneer tikka masala File:Malai Paneer Pizza from India.jpg|A pizza with paneer and vegetable toppings </gallery>

==See also==

* {{Annotated link|Kalari cheese}} * {{Annotated link|Khoa}} * {{Annotated link|Chhena}} * {{Annotated link|Surti paneer}}

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Indian cheeses Category:Indian cuisine Category:Iranian cuisine Category:Nepalese cuisine Category:Punjabi cuisine Category:Vegetarian cuisine Category:Acid-set cheeses Category:Hindu cuisine Category:South Asian cuisine Category:Vegetarian dishes of India