labneh recipe

Ingredients (4p)

• 500 g yogurt
• 1 tablespoon (12.5 g)
  sunflower seeds
• 10 ml lemon juice
• Salt
• 1/8 candied lemon
• A few sprigs of mint
• Olive Oil

about labneh

Labneh is drained yogurt with salt, indispensable in Middle Eastern cuisine. Labneh is served in small bowls with some olive oil and dried mint or some za’atar and eaten for breakfast on the mezze table. It is even widely used in flatbread sandwiches. In recent years, labneh has come into the spotlight: as a “white cloth” on which you can sprinkle all kinds of spices. Something people in the Middle East don’t do themselves.

How do you make it?

1. Mix the yogurt with a generous pinch of salt (about a small tablespoon) and the lemon juice. The yogurt should taste really salty.
2. Scoop the yogurt into a clean tea towel in a colander and drain. Let it drain for a few hours, or shorter if you want the labneh a little softer. The longer it drains, the firmer the labneh becomes.
3. Toast the sunflower seeds in a skillet with a little oil until golden brown.
4. Finely chop the zest of the candied lemon.
5. Pick the mint and chop it finely.
6. Scoop the labneh from the tea towel onto a plate and smooth it out, making nice round or oval grooves.
7. Sprinkle the candied lemon, mint and sunflower seeds on top and drizzle with olive oil.