Homemade Labaneh
Made with hung yogurt and seasoned with spices, labaneh is a versatile spread that can be used to elevate salads, sandwiches, pastas or quite simply as a dip with Zaatar, good olive oil and bread!
Equipment
- Clean cloth to strain the yogurt. A cheese/muslin cloth is the best, but if you can’t get any, use a clean kitchen cloth.
Ingredients
- 500 g yogurt (Greek yogurt works very well, but feel free to use low fat as well)
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp salt.
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine the yogurt with the lemon juice and salt; and mix well. The Labaneh mix is ready! Now it’s time to hang it in the fridge.
- Take your cloth and place the mixed yogurt inside. Then tie the 4 ends of the cloth and hang inside the fridge, placing a bowl underneath the cloth to gather the dripping liquid. Leave for 2 days, checking to make sure that the water doesn’t over-flood the bowl (as it did for Eyal!)
- After 2 days, the yogurt has released a lot of water, hence intensifying the flavour and texture of the cheese and transforming into beautiful creamy Labaneh, with a distinct zing from the lemon and the salt. Delicious.
- Untie and open the cloth, extract the Labaneh – make sure to get it all! This will keep well in the fridge for 2 weeks.
- As a bonus, why not roll out small Labaneh balls and coat them with Sumac and Zaatar. Store these in a container with 1 crushed clove of garlic and covered with olive oil. This is a traditional method to preserve the Labaneh and infuse flavour. It’s also really fun and tasty!