This Potato Dauphinois with paneer (fresh Indian cottage cheese) is a dish I have improvised from a cook book. This dish is tasty and very easy to make.
Gratin dauphinois is a French dish consisting of sliced potatoes baked in milk or cream. This dish comes from the Dauphiné region in south-eastern France.
TRADITIONAL DAUPHINOIS RECIPE
The gratin dauphinois is made with raw potatoes, thinly sliced, and milk and/or cream. This is then cooked in a buttered dish rubbed with garlic.
For 1 kg of potatoes you will need 600 ml of milk, 25 g of butter and a clove of garlic. The potatoes are peeled and sliced to the thickness of a coin, preferably with a Mandoline . The potatoes are then layered in a shallow earthenware dish and cooked in a slow oven for more than an hour at 150 °C (300 °F. You then raise the heat for the last 10 minutes of the cooking time.
Summer and autumn in was a year of abundance from our own garden produce. So, I had to think of different ways to use up the potatoes and other vegetables. The previous day, a paneer tutorial for my Youtube channel, so half the prep work was done. Since I already had paneer on hand, I combined our potato produce with home made Paneer to create this dish.
WHAT IS PANEER ?
Paneer is an Indian style cottage cheese. Making paneer at home is very easy. You need to add a little food acid to fresh boiling milk. When the food acid is just about sufficient the milk will separate to curd and whey. You then, drain out the whey and press the collected cheese.
I usually press the cheese for about 10 minutes which is mid way for any recipe. How to make Paneer tutorial.
For the simple reason that you are working with diary, the chances of bacteria entering quickly and destroying the cheese is high. Because, this has no preservative you may risk food poisoning if you don’t consume it within 2 days.
This is not to scare you off Paneer, that is not my intention. But, because I have made this experience firsthand in the past, I wanted to share it with you.
PANEER POTATO DAUPHINOIS VIDEO TUTORIAL
HOW TO MAKE POTATO PANEER DAUPHINOIS
To Make Paneer Method: Bring the milk to a boil and switch off the heat. Add the food acid immediately and gradually. Don't add all of it at once. Once the milk curdles stop adding the lemon juice. Pass the curds through a thin muslin cloth to strain out the whey. Bundle up the whole thing and press it under a heavy weight for about 10 min for a softer cheese. I usually use the whey water pot and press it. If the recipe called for a harder paneer press it for 30-45 min. Add the food acid only to boiling milk. To Make Paneer Potato Dauphinois 1. Peel all the potatoes and slice them thinly. To get even slices use a slicer or a mandoline. 2. Mix in the salt, pepper, spices and herbs. 3. Lightly crush the soft paneer and mix in with the yogurt and cream cheese. 4. Mix in the olive oil and spread the mixture into a deep flat baking dish. 5. Bake into a preheated oven at 200 deg centigrade fan for about 30 min. 6. Check and see the browning if it gets too quickly brown reduce the heat. 7. Bake until golden brown and the potatoes are soft. 8. Serve hot. Variation:
You could alternatively mix in all the cheese, yogurt, seasonings and olive oil into the sliced potatoes. 
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
SALAD IDEAS TO SERVE WITH PANEER DAUPHINOIS
Since we had harvested Fennel a few days back, I wanted to make a fresh garden to plate salad. More over we also had at that point an abundance of tomatoes from our produce.
Therefore, I had to with a little imagination come up with a whole lunch menu devoid of any grains. Further more, excepting the lemon and the avocados all the produce were from our own organic garden.
FENNEL SALAD
Ingredients:
- 2 Fennel
- 1 teaspoon of Salt
- 1/2 tsp of ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon of ground almond puree
- 2 tsp of pumpkin seeds and the juice of half a lemon.
Method:
Chop the Fennel into thin slices or you can also shred them.
Mix in all the seasonings and toss in the lemon juice and the end and serve.
GUACAMOLE
Ingredients:
- 2 Ripe avocados
- 1 onion
- 200 gm of ripe tomatoes
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1/2 tsp of ground black pepper
- fresh rucola leaves (optional)
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil and juice of half a lemon.
Method:
Scoop out the ripe avocados. Add to it chopped onions and tomatoes.
Mix in all the seasonings followed by the juice of a lemon and olive oil.
PIN IT FOR LATER
