This recipe was shared with me by my Aunt.
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Ingredients
- 1 gallon yogurt laban
- 1 gallon water
- salt to taste
- Aleppo pepper to taste
- 1 cup dried thyme
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 tomato chopped
- extra virgin olive oil
Ingredients
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Instructions
- In a large pot, mix a gallon of laban (yogurt) with a gallon of water or less, depends how thick it is, add salt and stir well. Set over medium heat. Bring to boil. When the water turns white and yellow and form curds, take pot off heat
- Once it cools it should look like cottage cheese. This is called "areeshe." Strain the areeshe through a cloth bag (clean unused pillow cases are typically reserved for this). Drain out the water but do not over drain (retain some moisture so that the balls can be shaped), then set in a sieve lined with napkins over a bowl. Let sit for a few hours at least. (You can also form the balls now and then sit out over the napkins).
- When the areeshe has dried well, add salt and hot pepper (Aleppo, optional) and roll into baseball-sized balls. Set out over napkins to dry for a few days, even 5 days if needed. Change the napkins and roll the balls onto different sides once a day so that one side doesn't become flat. *if you find that the balls are not forming and are crumbly, you can add a spoon or two of laban or laban back to the mixture to help form the balls
- At this point, you can roll the balls in dried thyme and set in fridge until read to eat, or you can continue to age them.
- To age them, put them in a jar in a warm place. Keep an eye on them for the next couple weeks. The outer layer will begin to mold, similar to how bleu cheese is aged.
- After the cheese begins to mold, it is time to remove the mold. To do so, place them in very hot water for some time before rinsing really well under running water, removing the molded areas. The layer underneath is the aged Shanklish.
- Roll in dried thyme. Set in jars in the fridge (optional: can add olive oil in the jar).
- Serve mixed with chopped tomatoes, onions & olive oil!
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