Homemade Ricotta Cheese

By

Sid Khullar

– October 28, 2007Posted in: Columns & Recipes

Today, I wanted to try making some flavored cottage cheese, and ended up making some lovely Ricotta cheese. Strictly speaking, Ricotta is a snowy white cheese that is made from the whey [drained liquids] of other cheese such as mozzarella for instance, you can also make it at home using buttermilk.

You’ll need:

2 Liters Milk 100ml Buttermilk 1 tsp chilli flakes 1 tsp cumin seed 1 tbsp salt

Method:

1. Dry roast the cumin seeds using a heavy bottomed pan. Roughly grind them, leaving a few seeds intact.
2. Pour the milk into a steel utensil. Add all the spices and seasonings.
3. Heat the milk on high heat, stirring every once in a while.
4. Add the buttermilk after about 10 minutes, or when the milk is about to rise, whichever is earlier.
5. The milk should curdle shortly – somewhere around 180 degrees.
6. Pour into a muslin/cheesecloth lined sieve.
7. Gather up the cloth, tie on top and hang till it stops dripping.

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Tags: butter, Cheese, Cumin Seed, Milk, roast, Salt, Spices

About Sid Khullar

Sid is the primary contributor to and editor of Chef at Large. A self confessed food addict who likes cooking, writing and photography... and travel, if it gets him closer to a good book and interesting food. He's spent 17 years in varying functions of technology, leaving the field after a stint heading software research & development for electrophysiological medical diagnostics. He now applies himself to learning more about food and building food and beverage brands online for Brands at Large clients. Sid covers Delhi/NCR for Chef at Large and can be reached at editor@chefatlarge.in

6 Comments

1. Reply

   Raaga

   Posted November 6, 2007 at 9:14 AM

   Hmmm… so that’s why the major discussion around cheeses

2. Reply

   sahil simon

   Posted November 7, 2007 at 1:32 AM

   did you know how cheese was invented? It wasnt necessity, it was an accident, read this

3. Reply

   Vegeyum

   Posted February 22, 2008 at 8:36 AM

   So good!

4. Reply

   nina

   Posted May 12, 2008 at 5:57 AM

   I made Labneh the other day which is a similar technique to this, except the warming of the milk and using buttermilk.
   I need Ricotta cheese often, so I’ll be making my own next time.

5. Reply

   Sid

   Posted May 12, 2008 at 6:02 AM

   Hi Nina: If you make other cheeses using Rennet, you could also try use the whey instead of butter milk.

   I haven’t tried making labneh before. Perhaps its time.

6. Reply

   Mya

   Posted January 4, 2009 at 7:44 PM

   I’m aware that this was posted quite a while ago, but I’m thankful for finding it! Great looking ricotta! I’ll be trying it out tomorrow ( and thank you for the recipe in liters! ). I make labane often and have a tutorial for it ( TOO EASY! ) – http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=TeA73wEPrbI

   Hope this helps someone! Happy cooking!