Has anyone tried dehydrating paneer?

[summermike]

It'd be a great vegetarian protein source on the trail if it's possible to do. Has anyone attempted it? If so, what kind of paneer did you use (fresh or cooked), at what temperature did you dehydrate it and for how long?

[LaurieAnn]

Paneer would be great. I've dried other cheeses (mozza, feta and such) but I should try this. Tofu is somewhat similar in firmness so it would probably dry decently enough. Because it doesn't contain animal fat this could work out very well.

[summermike]

I've had some on my Nesco for about 16 hours. At first it got a little crunchy (and was delicious that way) but wasn't truly dehydrated. Now it's getting pretty tough and hard. I'll keep an eye on it.

[LaurieAnn]

Let me know how it works out. I bought some this afternoon and seeing as you already have a batch on... I won't bother with mine until I hear back about your results.

Yum.

[Farr Away]

It isn't terribly difficult to make paneer. I don't have my info here, but I think the main things were having a heavy-bottomed, large pot and time.

-FA

[summermike]

I make paneer at home a lot. You need 1+ gallons of milk, lemon or lime juice, cheesecloth (or a bandana maybe), a large pot and time. My 3c pot would use a disproportionate amount of fuel to make a tiny amount of paneer. I'm not sure how well it would work with reconstituted milk. Might be an interesting experiment at home but not worth it on the trail.

I let the cubes dehydrate at 155F for 24 hours. It's pretty humid here so maybe it wouldn't take as long elsewhere. They've been immersed in water for 4 hours. The outside of the cubes is slowly disintegrating but they're otherwise still hard so far.

These were cooked (fried in a little bit of ghee) before dehydrating. Next I'll try dehydrating the paneer without frying it first.

[LaurieAnn]

How big are the cubes? That can make a real difference too. I would keep them about 1/4 to 1/3 inch square to ensure proper rehydration. I'm going to try this too.

[summermike]

Different sizes from 1/4" - 1".

[summermike]

I didn't get home for a while so the paneer rehydrated for nine hours! :o It was pretty squishy by then and the water looked like something you wouldn't drink from a pond.

I dumped out the water and fried the paneer in a little ghee. It was somewhere between not bad and pretty good. A little bit rubbery but otherwise the texture and taste was good ol' paneer. I think this is definitely a workable source of protein on the trail. Not sure what the shelf life would be but I bet you could make a batch, dehydrate it, put it in a foodsaver bag and it would keep in the freezer for a long time. If it went from there to a mail drop where it sat for a few weeks it would probably be fine.

It'll be interesting to see how the process works on "raw" paneer.

[LaurieAnn]

I'm thinking that I'll do some sort of curry or sauce with the paneer. I find that way of cooking and drying really helps when it comes to rehydrating. I'll keep you posted on my progress but it might be when I get back from my trip.

[Bronk]

I make paneer at home a lot. You need 1+ gallons of milk, lemon or lime juice, cheesecloth (or a bandana maybe), a large pot and time. My 3c pot would use a disproportionate amount of fuel to make a tiny amount of paneer. I'm not sure how well it would work with reconstituted milk. Might be an interesting experiment at home but not worth it on the trail.

I tried making cream cheese out of milk made from powdered milk once...it worked, but the cheese was sort of grainy instead of creamy and tasted very bland, probably because there was no fat in the milk.

[LaurieAnn]

Bronk - I wonder if using a high fat milk like Nido (26% MF) would give better results?

[summermike]

I used the same process to dehydrate raw paneer. It came out a little more rubbery and tough than the cooked paneer so it looks like it's better to pan cook it in a little ghee or EVOO before dehydrating it.