Niki’s Labneh

Deliciously rich, tangy and creamy, labneh is a Middle-Eastern soft cream cheese and we want to show you how easy it is to whip up using only 2 ingredients: yoghurt and sea salt!The best thing about making it yourself is you can decide how thick you like it. The longer you strain it, the thicker it will be. Around 12 hours will give you a loose labneh, 24 hours will give you something much thicker.

Step 1

Put 1kg of natural, plain yoghurt into a bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon of sea salt.

Step 2

Line another large bowl with muslin, a double layer of cheesecloth or a clean, tightly woven tea towel. Pour or spoon in the salted yogurt.

Step 3

Tie up the edges and secure with string or an elastic band, then hang it up to drain either at room temperature or in the fridge – a kitchen tap would be great for this. Wherever you put it, make sure to have a bowl underneath to catch the drips! Alternatively, place the bundle in a sieve and rest it over a deep bowl. Leave it to drain for anywhere between 12 and 24 hours, we did ours for 24 hours.

Step 4

Spoon the labneh onto a plate, then use the back of a spoon to smooth it out, allowing for some dips and grooves for your olive oil to pool into. Here we have sprinkled over liberal amounts of lemon pepper, Allepo chilli flakes, extra sea salt, urfa chillis flakes and fresh tarragon and a hunk of homemade wholemeal sourdough, bliss.