Home made Ricotta Cheese

Ingredients:

1. Milk - 1 litre  OR  2 packets )OR ( 4 cups + 1/4 cup)
2. Curd - 1 cup
3. salt - 1/4 tsp or to taste
4. fresh cream - 2 tbsp

Method:

Bring the milk to a rolling boil and turn the flame off.
Immediately start adding curd a tbsp at a time , stirring continuously.
Keep adding the curd until to start seeing the milk start to curdle.
Once this happens you can stop adding the curd / no harm in adding the rest of the curd also.
Keep this milk aside for 10 minutes.
Line a colander with cheese cloth and pour this curdled milk into it.
Tie and hang it for 4-5 hours until the liquid drains off.
If the mixture is still wet , place some weight over the tied up cheese and let the liquid drain.
Transfer the cheese into a container and add the cream and salt to taste and mix well.
 Store in refrigerator until ready to use .
I have kept it for 4 days without going bad.
You can mix herbs into it and use for pasta, ravioli , have it with fruit  or  honey.

NOTE : You can use lime juice or vinegar to split the milk ,in that case you need to wash the cheese several times before draining it , to remove the lemon/vinegar. Using curd gives a softer creamier cheese.