Labneh with Za'atar
Labneh with Za'atar takes about 15 min and serves 6. It needs 6 ingredients: greek yoghurt, salt, za'atar, olive oil, lemon, and garlic. It is rated easy to make.
- Total time
- 15 min
- Serves
- 6
- Difficulty
- Easy
Ingredients
- 800 g full-fat Greek yoghurt
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp za'atar
- 4 tbsp good olive oil
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 small garlic clove, grated
Method
Salt the yoghurt first
Stir the salt through the yoghurt before straining. Salt draws the whey out — unsalted yoghurt strains far more slowly and the finished labneh tastes flat.
Hang it overnight
Tip into a muslin or a clean tea towel set over a bowl, gather the corners and tie, and refrigerate 12 to 24 hours. It loses roughly half its weight in whey and firms up to something between cream cheese and butter.
12 hSeason the strained curd
Turn it out and beat in the lemon zest and grated garlic. Taste — after straining it will usually want a little more salt than you expect.
Spread and pool
Spread it into a shallow bowl and drag the back of a spoon through it to make grooves, then flood those grooves with olive oil and scatter over the za'atar. The grooves are not decoration; they hold the oil where you can scoop it up.
Keep the whey
Serve with warm flatbread. Do not throw away the whey in the bowl — it makes excellent bread dough or a marinade for chicken.
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