Curd is a fermented milk product obtained by fermenting milk, followed by removal of the resulting whey. The name “cottage cheese” is traditional for the Slavic peoples; in Western Europe, cottage cheese is considered a kind of cheese, which is not far from the truth, given the production process of the cheese itself.
Depending on the fat content, cottage cheese is divided into three main groups:
- bold – 18%;
- bold – 9%;
- fat-free – less than 3%.
Low-fat cottage cheese also includes granulated cottage cheese, which appeared on supermarket shelves relatively recently, but quickly gained popularity due to its pleasant taste and unusual consistency.
Cottage cheese is rich in calcium, which is essential for our body, as it is involved in the formation of bones and teeth. Cottage cheese is especially useful for children and people with poor health, since in addition to calcium, it contains proteins and other useful elements.
There is no pronounced harm from cottage cheese, but there is its individual intolerance and the shelf life of the product, after which the cottage cheese cannot be eaten, as it threatens with poisoning.
In cooking, cottage cheese is widely used for the preparation of various desserts, casseroles, as a filling for pies. Of course, it is best to eat cottage cheese raw, without subjecting it to heat treatment in order to preserve all the useful substances in it.
Before preparing dishes from cottage cheese, you need to wipe it through a sieve, in this case it acquires greater airiness. If you don’t feel like messing around with this, you can simply beat the curd in a blender.
Cottage cheese
Many young mothers do not trust the quality of the finished cottage cheese and make it themselves at home.
Ingredients:
- milk – 1 liter
1 liter of milk makes a small bowl of cottage cheese, so to get more volume, you need to increase the amount of milk. It is best to take natural milk. Pour it into a saucepan and leave it in the kitchen at room temperature for 12 hours, during which time the milk should turn sour.
Heat sour milk to curdle. Put the resulting substance in cheesecloth, place the cheesecloth in a sieve, put the sieve over a saucepan, into which the serum will drain. Delicate cottage cheese remains in the gauze.
If desired, the cottage cheese can be heated again, in this case, it will become more crumbly.
cheesecakes
Probably, there are no people in the world who would be indifferent to cheese cakes. Each of us is familiar with this dish from childhood and its use gives us a lot of joy and childhood memories.
Ingredients:
- Cottage cheese – 200 gr.
- Yolk – 1 pc.
- Manka – 1 tsp.
- Sugar – 3 tsp.
- Salt – 1 pinch
- Flour – for rolling
- Olive oil – for frying
This recipe allows you to make cheese cakes without flour. To do this, beat the semolina and yolk with a mixer. We put in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
Mixes cottage cheese, salt and sugar, add semolina from the refrigerator. Whisk thoroughly and refrigerate again for 20 minutes.
After the specified time, take out the dough, form curd cakes from it, roll them in flour and fry in olive oil for 5 minutes on each side.
Serve prepared cheesecakes with sour cream or sweet preserves and jams.
Cottage cheese and strawberry dessert
Ingredients:
- Cottage cheese – 200 gr.
- Shortbread cookies – 200 gr.
- Cream – 100 ml.
- Strawberries – 5-6 berries
- Powdered sugar – 1/2 cup
- Mint – a few leaves
Grind the cookies in a blender to a state of small crumbs, pour them into a separate container.
Beat the cottage cheese in a blender, adding cream and powdered sugar to it.
Pour 2 tbsp at the bottom of wide glasses. l. biscuit crumbs, put the curd mass on top and decorate it with randomly chopped strawberries (or other fruits) and mint leaves.
Lazy Vareniki
Cottage cheese is one of the most popular fillings for dumplings, but in order to make dumplings you need to have a certain amount of free time, which is not enough anyway, but you want dumplings. The way out is lazy dumplings.
Ingredients:
- Cottage cheese – 200 gr.
- Egg – 1 pcs.
- Semolina – 2 tbsp. l.
- Flour – 1-2 tbsp. l.
- Butter – for dressing
- Salt – to taste
- Vanilla sugar – 1 sachet
- Sugar to taste
Grind the curd thoroughly with a fork or beat in a blender. Add egg, semolina, flour, salt, sugar to it and knead everything thoroughly.
From the resulting mass we form a long sausage with a diameter of 2-3 cm. Cut it into portions.
Boil lazy dumplings in boiling water for 2 minutes. Serve garnished with butter or fruit, whatever you like.
You can find many recipes for casseroles, cheesecakes, puddings, pies and other cottage cheese dishes on our website.