Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Indian dairy products

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Indian dairy products

A variety of dairy products are indigenous to India and an important part of Indian cuisine. The majority of these products can be broadly classified into curdled products, like chhena, or non-curdled products, like khoa.

Contents

Curdled dairy products

  • Paneer is an unaged, acid-set, non-melting farmer cheese made by curdling heated milk with lemon juice or other non-rennet food acid, and then removing the whey and pressing the result into a dry unit.
  • Chhena is like paneer, except some whey is left and the mixture is beaten thoroughly until it becomes soft, of smooth consistency, and malleable but firm.
  • Sandesh is a confection made from chhena mixed with sugar then grilled lightly to caramelize, but removed from heat and molded into a ball or some shape.
  • Rasgulla is a confection made from mixture of chhena and semolina rolled into a ball and boiled in syrup.

    • Non-curdled dairy products

  • Khoa or Mawa is made by reducing milk in an open pan over heat.
  • Peda is a confection made by mixing sugar with khoa and adding flavoring, such as cardamom.
  • Barfi is a confection made by reducing milk and sugar until it solidifies and adding flavoring, such as pistachio.
  • Gulab jamun is a confection made by mixing khoa and sugar, caramelizing it by frying, and soaking it in syrup containing rosewater.
  • Kulfi is made from slowly freezing sweetened condensed milk. In comparison to ice cream, kulfi is not whipped or otherwise aerated.
  • Ghee is type of clarified butter that is cooked long enough to caramelize the milk sugar and sterilize the liquid.

    • Fermented dairy products

  • Mishti doi is dahi (Indian yogurt) mixed with sugar
  • Shrikhand is strained yogurt mixed with sugar, and often flavorings such as cardamom, saffron, or fruit.
  • Wheyvit is an alcoholic beverage prepared by fermenting whey with yeast.

    • Other dairy products

  • Kheer is made by boiling rice or broken wheat with milk and sugar, and sometimes flavored with cardamom, raisins, saffron, pistachios, or almonds.
  • Chhena Murki is made by frying cubes of chhena to burn the outside, then soaking them in syrup flavored with cardamom.
  • Pantooa is like gulab jamun, except with some chhena mixed with the usual ingredients.

    • Basundi is also made up from milk.

    References

    Indian dairy products Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA