How to make Mozzarella cheese at home, calorie content
To get real Mozzarella cheese, you will have to purchase rennet. Without it, unfortunately, it will not be possible to prepare a decent product.
Required ingredients:
• 1 – 2 tablespoons of citric acid; • about four liters of milk, regular, not pasteurized; • 170 milliliters of clean water; • a quarter teaspoon of rennet.
Cooking process:
1. Prepare a deep pan, pour milk into it and heat it exactly to 32 degrees. Be sure to use a thermometer. Add citric acid there and mix. 2. Dissolve the rennet in the specified amount of water and add this mixture to the milk. Stir for 30 – 40 seconds. 3. Turn off the stove, cover the container and let the contents stand for at least five minutes. 4. As soon as you see that the mass has begun to resemble a soft clot, immediately cut it into small squares, 2.5 - 3 cm in size. Stir them a little and warm them up to 43 degrees. 5. Place all the contents in a colander to drain the whey. Place it back into the pan and heat it to 85 degrees. 6. Place the chopped pieces of cheese one by one into the hot whey, stretch, fold and repeat the same steps several times until the lump becomes smooth. Give it the desired shape.
It is better to lower the cheese using a slotted spoon and do not forget to wear gloves, since you can burn your hands when stretching.
The calorie content of this cheese is not high - only 240 calories per 100 grams. It contains completely no carbohydrates, 18 grams of protein, and 24 grams of fat.
Preparation:
To prepare the appetizer, you can use any mozzarella you find: either small heads of mozzarella in filling, or vacuum-packed without filling. If you purchased baby mozzarella (in small balls), in this case the cheese balls are fried whole. Mozzarella heads can be cut into large cubes (as I did) or into sticks.
Before cooking, you need to remove the mozzarella from the refrigerator in advance, drain the filling if there is any (throw it in a colander), and let it warm to room temperature so that the cheese has time to melt inside during deep-frying.
Recipe for breaded dishes: Fish fingers and poultry fillet
In a bowl, combine eggs with milk, salt, pepper and whisk until smooth.
Place a small saucepan with a thick bottom over medium heat, pour in vegetable oil and heat it thoroughly. While the oil is heating, sift the flour into a small bowl or plate and add the breadcrumbs into another separate bowl.
I took homemade breadcrumbs: I cut off the crusts from yesterday’s loaf, cut the loaf into cubes, dried them in the microwave for 3-4 minutes and crushed them in a blender into fine crumbs.
Dip mozzarella pieces in flour.
Then dip in eggs and milk (leison).
Roll in breadcrumbs.
Dip into the leison again and roll in breadcrumbs again. Double breading is done so that during frying the juice does not flow out into the hot oil, otherwise it will “shoot”. Carefully place pieces of cheese (maximum 2-3 pieces) into very hot vegetable oil and fry until the breading is golden brown. Frying time takes about 30 seconds and depends on the temperature of the oil.
Remove the finished fried cheese with a slotted spoon to remove as much oil as possible.
Place cheese cubes (sticks, balls) on paper towels (parchment) to absorb excess oil.
Serve the mozzarella appetizer immediately after preparation.
Buon appetito!
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Pizza Margherita with Mozzarella
Mozzarella cheese is ideal for pizza. The flatbread turns out to be incredibly tasty and aromatic.
Required ingredients:
• any pizza dough or base; • salt and oregano; • two tomatoes or several tomatoes in juice; • olive oil – 10 milliliters; • Mozzarella cheese – approximately 0.2 kg; • some fresh basil.
Cooking process:
1. Wash the basil well, dry and chop. 2. Mix the herb with olive oil, tomatoes, salt and oregano. It is best to pass this mixture through a blender until it becomes completely homogeneous. 3. Coat the workpiece with the resulting sauce and cover it with cheese on top. Mozzarella can be grated or cut into thin slices. 4. Place the workpiece in the oven, turning on the heat at 250 - 300 degrees, and keep it until the cheese melts and a crust forms.
Fried cheese in batter
Required ingredients:
• oil for frying; • salt to your taste; • about 250 grams of Mozzarella; • 50 grams of flour; • one egg; • packaging of breadcrumbs.
Cooking process:
1. It’s better to buy cheese in the form of small balls, but if you can’t find one, then cut a large piece into medium-sized squares. 2. Pour the oil into the frying pan and heat it well. 3. Prepare three containers, place the egg in one, lightly whisking it and adding salt, and the other two - flour and crackers. 4. First dip each piece of Mozzarella into the egg, then into the flour and breadcrumbs. 5. Place the resulting pieces in oil so that it covers them and fry until the color becomes beautiful and golden.
How to fry cheese in a frying pan
When exposed to high temperatures, cheeses melt and spread; to avoid this, cold cheeses that have been in the refrigerator for a couple of hours are fried and encased in a retaining shell. Cheese is fried in different ways:
Frying in breading or batter
Roll the pieces of cheese in breadcrumbs, dip them in beaten egg and roll over the breadcrumbs again.
For frying, it is better to use medium-sized rusk crumbs: it absorbs less fat and gives a strong crispy crust that does not fall off from cheese pieces or balls.
Instead of breadcrumbs, cheeses are also dipped in batter - a batter - and fried in a frying pan with butter.
Frying in flour
Finely grate the cheese, roll into balls, add salt and pepper if desired, roll in flour and fry in oil. When they puff up and double in size, remove them to paper towels.
Non-spreading cheeses such as halloumi or Adyghe can simply be fried in oil without additional deboning.
You can enjoy fried cheeses just like that or dip them in sauces (mayonnaise with crushed garlic or tomato sauce) or jam, and even eat them with berry jam! They are ideal with beer or dry red wine.
Caprese salad with Mozzarella cheese
Salad with Mozzarella cheese according to this recipe is very simple. This is a light and tasty appetizer that can be served before main courses or with wine.
Required ingredients:
• spices as desired; • a bunch of fresh basil; • three tablespoons of olive oil; • 150 grams of Mozzarella cheese; • two tomatoes.
Cooking process:
1. Prepare a flat, beautiful dish, place slices of cheese and tomato on it, approximately 5 millimeters thick, alternating them. 2. Drizzle olive oil over the top of the appetizer, sprinkle with salt and ground black pepper and garnish with basil leaves.
Shrimp appetizer
Required ingredients:
• 200 grams of peeled shrimp; • a bunch of basil; • clove of garlic; • one tomato; • 10 milliliters of olive oil; • baguette or ciabatta; • 100 grams of Mozzarella.
Cooking process:
1. Cut the selected pastry into slices, fry in a frying pan on both sides, adding a little oil. 2. In the same container, fry the garlic, cut into pieces, tomato slices and shrimp. 3. First place slices of Mozzarella on the bread, then slices of tomato, shrimp and basil leaves.
Tomatoes with Mozzarella cheese
Required ingredients:
• about 20 pieces of cheese balls; • spices to taste: oregano, basil, salt, pepper; • cherry tomatoes according to the number of servings of Mozzarella; • two spoons of balsamic vinegar; • two tablespoons of olive oil.
Cooking process:
1. Pour vinegar, oil into a small container, add salt, dry oregano seasoning and a little black pepper. Mix everything well, preferably with a whisk. 2. Place the cheese balls into the spicy mixture so that they are soaked in the dressing. 3. Place each ball on a skewer. Following them, string cherry tomatoes and a basil leaf. The sequence can be repeated or left as is, depending on the length of the skewers. All that remains is to place the appetizer on a beautiful serving dish.
How to fry mozzarella in a frying pan
Ingredients
- Small mozzarella balls – 200 g;
- Egg – 1 pc.;
- Milk – 1 tbsp;
- Stale white bread or ciabatta – 200 g;
- Half a glass of flour;
- Italian herbs or other spicy mixture - 0.5 tsp;
- A little black pepper and salt.
How to fry cheese in a frying pan
To truly enjoy your Sunday meal or to diversify your holiday table by surprising your guests with an unusual dish, fry mozzarella with white bread. To make fried cheese we use the following recipe:
Break the bread into small pieces, dry in a dry frying pan, stirring often, then grind into crumbs and mix with spices.
Mix the egg flavored with milk, pepper and salt, pepper and add some salt to the flour.
- Dry the mozzarella with paper towels: the brine should not drip from it.
- Add a lot of oil to a deep frying pan and heat it to 170 degrees.
To understand whether the oil has reached this temperature, put a piece of bread in it. If it turns brown in 40 seconds, then the oil is ready for frying!
Prick the ball onto a toothpick, roll it in flour, shake it, dip it in the egg-milk mixture and let the excess liquid drain off.
- Then roll the balls in bread crumbs, dip them again in a mixture of eggs and milk, and again in crumbs.
- Fry the mozzarella in hot oil until it browns.
Place fried mozzarella on paper to remove excess fat. Serve this cheese with tomato sauce.
Chicken fillet baked with cheese
Required ingredients:
• about 300 grams of ripe tomatoes; • seasonings to your taste; • 0.1 liters of soy sauce; • fresh basil – a bunch; • 100 grams of ketchup or tomato paste; • 1 – 2 pieces of chicken fillet; • half a lemon; • approximately 150 grams of Mozzarella.
Cooking process:
1. First, let's prepare the marinade for the meat. To this end, combine soy sauce, ketchup or paste, and juice squeezed from half a lemon in a medium-sized container. 2. Place chicken fillet (washed, but not chopped) into the resulting mixture and put it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. 3. Chop the mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, place in a bowl and stir. At this stage, if desired, they can be seasoned with salt and pepper. 4. Remove the meat from the refrigerator, place it in a suitable form, sprinkle chopped ingredients on top and cook for about 35 minutes in the oven, setting the temperature to 180 degrees.
Cheese fried in batter
Ingredients
- - 2 pcs. + —
- — 400 g + —
- Breadcrumbs – 150 g + –
- Pour some of the breadcrumbs into a bowl, adding them as needed, and heat a frying pan with odorless oil.
- We soak the cheese pieces in the egg mixture and, after rolling them in breadcrumbs, fry immediately, stirring often, until a golden brown crust appears.
Serve the cheese fried in batter immediately after frying, while it is hot. We add sour cream, mayonnaise, tomato or other sauce to it.
So, you've learned how to fry cheese in a frying pan, which provides much more benefits than salty croutons or chips.
All that remains is to try the suggested recipes and enjoy the crispy crust and tender contents of the cheese balls or pieces!
What cheese can replace Mozzarella?
If the chosen recipe calls for the presence of just such cheese, but you don’t have it on hand, then you can try making a replacement.
• If the cheese for the dish does not need to be melted, you can use feta cheese soaked in milk for some time. It will become less salty, more tender and perfect for salad. • Another replacement option when heat treatment is not needed is Adyghe cheese, Suluguni or grain cheese. All of the above will not work if the cheese needs to be baked, for example, to make pizza with it. Here you will need a variety that will melt well. In this case, Tilsiter will be an excellent replacement. And don’t forget that you can make Mozzarella yourself if you have the right ingredients and a little time. Mozzarella cheese is not only tasty, but also healthy. It has a lot of protein and, unlike other varieties, it is considered low-fat, which allows those who adhere to proper nutrition to prepare dishes from it.
