A Brown Kitchen:

Paneer is perfect for summer grilling.

Summer used to bring the exciting prospect of new adventures, but this year, that has all taken a step back. I am distracted by the present and the looming cloud of uncertainty. At the beginning of shelterinplace, I had deadlines for a new cookbook to distract me, but with those completed, I have to focus on what’s new and what’s ahead in this uncertain landscape. I need something familiar to ground myself, and I’ve found that in two places: gardening and cooking.

Gardening has become an activity that helps to temporarily take my mind away from the uncertainty and instability of the pandemic. It’s not that it doesn’t come with its own set of unexpected outcomes — things I plant might never grow and what might grows might never fruit — but it gives me some sense of hope. With a bit of extra care and effort (and iron soil supplements), I’ve managed to rescue a curry plant whose leaves were yellow. It took more than a month, but I now have a few loquat plants I grew from seeds and then gifted to friends. I sincerely hope they fruit.

Like gardening, cooking gives me some degree of grounding. I’ve been experimenting more and more in the kitchen but also revisiting ingredients like paneer that I’m familiar with and trying to think of new ways to use them.

Used in Indian cooking, paneer is an unsalted cheese, which makes it unusual. To make it, a large pot of milk is warmed over a stove and an acid like lemon juice, lime juice or vinegar is stirred in. The combined action of heat and acid helps some of the milk proteins to denature and coagulate to form a large white mass of cheese curds. These curds are then collected and rinsed with water to remove any traces of the acid and then pressed down tightly to get rid of any water.

Most often, paneer is cut into cubes and panfried before being added to a stew like palak paneer or grated into thin shreds to be encased in stuffed flatbreads like parathas. However, paneer is extremely versatile, and I will often sear it in a little oil and add it to a salad, or, in this case, grill and season it with a flavorful fresh herb sauce.

Perhaps next time I’ll wait for the lemons on my small potted lemon tree to ripen and use their juice to make paneer. I need to connect those dots to find my focus.

Nik Sharma’s first solo cookbook is “Season” (Chronicle Books). Twitter: @abrowntable Instagram: @abrowntable Email: food@sfchronicle.com

Nik Sharma Paneer Kebabs With Herb & Garlic Sauce