Can we eat Paneer in Pajusan?

I was asked this question recently. My instant answer was รขโ‚ฌโ€œ No. But am not sure about reasoning for why not? As far as I remember, we have not used paneer during pajusan. I am thinking may be due to mirco organism process used to split paneer from milk.

12 Comments:

  1. In that case, one should not be able to eat even curd during paryushan. Come to think of it, why is curd even permitted in jainism then ?

  2. Here is a good list of recipes especially for Pajushan. ๐Ÿ™‚

  3. I would have guessed it would be because Paneer dishes are typically “rich” and the idea is to also
    have simple food during Paryushan but then all the sweets we have in Paryushan are also quite rich so still looking for an answer.

  4. Agree.. Similar thought was, Typically panner is prepared gravy based. How would you prepare Paneer just with dry masala?

  5. I think Paneer is ok to eat 365 days 24 hours a day ……..

  6. Scrambled paneer would be a dry recipe. Not sure if it will go with roti though. I used it as a stuffing in puff pastry for jain version. Came out quite good:)

  7. Curd:
    It so happens that I was once visiting Baroi, Kutchh, and was in time for sammelan. I heard about one maharajsaheb who kept himself up-to-date with the world in terms of science, technology, news, etc. I went up to him and asked him the same question, “Why are we allowed to eat curd? Science has proven that curd is made by fermentation of organisms which you can actually see under a microscope.”

    His answer “Curd is not made by micro-organisms. It is made by very small particles that vibrate and this vibration is what causes milk to turn to curd.”

    Wait a minute..what? You decide.

  8. Making Curd……….The Jain Way!

    Found this after a yahoo search ๐Ÿ™‚

    Here is a recipe for all of us to make Curd which is made totally by Jain Vidhi.And the best part of this recipe is that curd made by this way is eatable by our Jain Munis also as in this method the Curd is being made without Fermenting Bacteria in the Milk.

    Method:
    Take two Teaspoon Lemon Juice.Soak an Almond(Badaam) in it for 8 hours or so.Then put this almond soaked in Lemon Juice in the Mild Warm Milk for 10-12 Hours.
    The curd is ready to eat.

    So Simple………

  9. I’m guessing the questionable jain foods in that case may also include pizza, idli, dhokla etc. In that sense, I find the vegan philosophy more consistent.

  10. As per this website http://jainworld.com/jainfood/listoffoods.asp, fungi including yeast is not a jain food. So that answers my question above. I’m surprised that it lists palak bhaji as a non-jain food.

  11. Making paneer is a pure protein separation process and doesn’t really involve any micro organisms. It involves the seperation of the milk curd and whey proteins. I can not see how it’s not considered as Jain food.

    I do have a question about yogurt/dahi… Is the bateria culture that is responsible for making Dahi that we ingest (probiotics) not make it jain food?

  12. wow! too much thought of food during parjushan. doesn’t it defeat the purpose? just an outsider’s humble opinion

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