Homemade Labneh and What the Heck to Do With It
Welcome to the land of the "swoosh"
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Some people believe there is only one use for a V60 coffee filter. If you’re my husband — who works in specialty coffee — this is a sacred piece of equipment. The thing that, if used properly with some decent beans, will hit you over the head with caffeine in the best way.
He probably didn’t intend for me to use his coffee filter to make Labneh but here we are.
Thankfully he’s as food-obsessed as I am so I didn’t hear too much grumbling about finding the coffee filter in the fridge this morning, piled high with yoghurt.
No anaerobically fermented Indonesian coffee for him today.
If you’ve not come across Labneh before, it’s a strained yogurt that originated somewhere in the Levant and Middle East many thousands of moons ago.
It’s become something of a staple in my house because of its swoosh potential.
Add dollops of Labneh onto a serving platter, “swoosh” it and pile it high with vegetables or spiced meats.
Honestly, for years I didn’t know I could make Labneh myself. I thought it was some special yogurt which I had to buy from my local Turkish supermarket. I’d seek out English-language-free tubs of it on the regular.
Once I started traveling, I missed Labneh so much, I looked into how you can make it at home. And wouldn’t you know, it’s freaking easy and only takes one ingredient.
Decent quality Greek-style yogurt.
Some people salt the yogurt when making Labneh, I do not, preferring as I do to salt it once it’s on the serving platter. It’s a control thing — sometimes I want it salty, sometimes not.
Labneh is a brilliant Capsule Pantry ingredient because you can top it with literally anything. You can also — as I’m about to show you — turn it into Labneh balls by straining the yogurt for a longer period of time. You can roll these balls in spices like Turkish pul biber chilli flakes, sumac, za’atar, or dried herbs like mint or oregano. They preserve nicely in olive oil, ready to be plucked out and smeared onto toast at your leisure.
Easy to make, preservable and adaptable? Yep, yep, yep.
My end-of-year offer for The Capsule Panty is going strong — 30% off until the end of December. That gives you access to recipes like this one, plus scores of others in The Capsule Pantry index.
Every recipe is designed to be incredibly adaptable. I’ll teach you how to see your fridge and pantry as a whole ecosystem that works together in a bid to reduce food waste and save you money.
And never make a bad substitution again.
Today you’ve got 3 recipes for the price of one
Homemade swooshable Labneh
Labneh balls
Spiced cauliflower and cripsy chickpeas on Labneh
Plus a bunch of other suggestions for ingredients to top swooshable Labneh that I make on a multiple weekly basis.