பன்னீர் / தண்ணீர் மசாலா

Paneer is a fresh cheese  common in South Asian Cuisine. It is of Indian origin. In eastern parts of India it is generally called Chhena. It is an acid-set, non-melting farmer cheese or curd cheese made by curdling heated milk with lemon juice or other food acid. Unlike most cheeses in the world, the making of paneer does not involve rennet as the coagulation agent, thus making it completely lacto-vegetarian and providing a source of Proten for Vegetarian Hindus. …….. (Wiki)

Dating back to Ancient India, paneer remains the most common type of cheese used in traditional South Asian cuisines. The use of paneer is more common in northern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh due to the prominence of milk in their cuisine. It is very popular when wrapped in dough and deep-fried or served with either spinach (palak paneer)  or peas (matter paneer). While cuisine in the northern states of India features paneer in spicy curry dishes, the use of sana/chhana/chhena in Oriya, Assamese and Begali   cuisine is mostly restricted to sweets, for which these regions are renowned. The well-known rasagulla features plain chhana beaten by hand and shaped into balls which are soaked in syrup. The sana/chhana/chhenaused in such cases is manufactured by a slightly different procedure from Mughlai paneer; it is drained but not pressed, so that some moisture is retained, which makes for a soft, malleable consistency. It may, however, be pressed slightly into small cubes and curried to form a dalna in Oriya and Bengali cuisines.

Read the following news article how it is prepared and reaching us.