Labna

Firstly, what is Labna or labneh? It is a Middle Eastern staple made by removing excess whey from salted yoghurt, which results in a velvety, cream cheese-like spread with a lightly sour note. It's eaten on bread and topped with olives, mint, tomato, cucumber and olive oil. (SBS Food)

I love it because it is delicious, super easy to make and looks impressive. I first came across Labna balls when I was living in Sydney and taught myself to make them. I have never found them in Darwin, so I decided to revisit the old recipe I had (just yoghurt & salt, no other flavours and yet it's still yummy).

I'd like to acknowledge that this is not my original recipe, it actually comes from Ditch The Carbs and you can find the online recipe here. However, it was so easy to make and so delicious that I have to share this with you.

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Ingredients:

• 1kg of plain greek yoghurt

• 1 tablespoon of salt

Method:

1. In the yoghurt containers, add the salt and mix

2. Sterilize your cheese or muslin cloth in boiling water for a few minutes and then lay the cloth over a sieve so that the cloth lines the sieve.

3. Line the sieve with the boiled cheese cloth, pour the yoghurt mixture, gather the corners of the cloth to the top of the yoghurt and tie. Make sure the corners of the cloth are tucked into the sieve

4. Place the sieve over a bowl and put it in the fridge for 24-48 hours, occasionally squeezing so the liquid comes out.

5. Discard the liquid then eat.

   
   

   Options: roll the cheese (Labna) into small balls and cover in the fresh chopped herbs. Store in sterilised container covered in olive oil.

   
   

   Other toppings could be sweet chilli sauce, chutneys, truffle oil, lemon rind grated. Google has lots of options

   
   

   Labna is a fresh cheese, so don't keep for more than 1 week in the fridge (you'll be lucky if they last one day as they are so delicious!) make sure you remove it from the cheese cloth, this can get slimy.