Hi!
I love panir cheese, but since I have just given up dairy, I was wondering
whether you had ever tried making it with soy milk instead of cows milk? Can
you directly substitute soy milk for cows milk when following your recipe for
panir? Thank you so much - your food and philosophies are inspirational.

Erin, Nelson, New Zealand.

Hi Erin.
I am happy that you are finding my website inspirational!

Well, I am afraid the answer to your question is no, it will not work. Commercial soy milk cannot be simply boiled, curdled and made into bean curd. Bean curd, tofu, has to be made from scratch.

In a nutshell, this means the process begins from soaking whole soy beans overnight, wet-grinding them into a slurry, boiling the bean slurry for about 35 minutes, double filtering the mixture, draining off the soy 'milk', curdling with nigari (predominantly a magnesium chloride coagulant), scooping off the curds, then pressing into blocks.

Although making homemade tofu can be achieved at home, I personally find it is much easier to buy tofu ready-made, then substituting it for the panir.

Previous Answer >>