Homemade Cottage Cheese or Queso Fresco or Paneer

Pour the water into a nonstick pot and place it on the gas on high heat. (This will prevent the milk from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning.) Now pour milk into the pot and bring it to a boil. Keep stirring in between to prevent milk from burning.

As soon as it starts to boil, add vinegar and lemon juice, stirring continuously, and reduce the heat to medium. (This is the curdling process or the main stage in this entire process.) Keep stirring the solution till milk completely curdles and you are left with lumps of a fragile cheese-like substance along with residual water (water becomes pale green or cream in color). Stir for 2 more minutes and then switch off the heat.

Fill a small airtight jar with the curdled water (which can be used later for curdling milk in future). Set it aside till it cools, then store in the fridge for 7-10 days.

Using a sieve or cheesecloth, drain water from the freshly made cheese and rinse with fresh water, then drain again. To make sure water is completely drained out of the cheese, leave it in the sieve for 30 minutes.

Store the cheese in an airtight container or jar in the fridge for later use.