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Recipes with live plain yogurt

4 recipes that use live plain yogurt, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Sulguni, takes 70 minutes. It is most often cooked with calcium chloride solution, vegetarian liquid rennet and coarse salt.

Run out of live plain yogurt? Sour cream or buttermilk, same amount.

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Motal

Motal is the herb cheese of Syunik's shepherds, who press fresh goat's-milk curd into clay jars with dried wild thyme, mint and tarragon, seal them with ash and leave them to ripen for months in cool cellars around Goris and Sisian. The cheese comes out crumbly, salty and fragrant, eaten with lavash and herbs or crumbled over salads. Home kitchens can make a firm goat's cheese, then layer it in a jar with herbs and salt and ripen it in the fridge for three to four weeks. Traditionally the milk is set with animal rennet; vegetarian rennet works just as well. A common mistake is packing wet curd; it sours and spoils instead of ripening. Chef's tip: press the curd until it feels dry and squeaky before crumbling it with the herbs.

105 minArmenianBasicsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Armenian string cheese

Chechil, called tel panir in Armenian, is the plaited string cheese of Armenian families from Yerevan to Beirut and Boston: fresh curd is melted in hot water, stretched again and again into long, fine strands with nigella seeds worked through, then twisted into a braid. To eat, you pull the braid apart into thread-fine strings, good with herbs, lavash and a glass of tan. Traditionally made with animal rennet; vegetarian rennet works too. A common mistake is stretching a curd that is not acidic enough; it melts into a blob instead of pulling. Chef's tip: test a small piece in hot water first, as for sulguni; if it stretches 30 cm without breaking, it is ready.

90 minArmenianBasicsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Guda cheese

Tush shepherds make guda in summer huts high above the Alazani valley, pressing sheep's-milk curd into bags sewn from sheepskin, where it ripens into a crumbly, pungent cheese that travels down to Telavi markets in autumn. You cannot copy the sheepskin at home, but you can make a firm, salty sheep's-milk cheese and ripen it in a cloth in the fridge for two to three weeks, which gives a similar sharp, grassy bite. Traditionally the milk is set with animal rennet; vegetarian (microbial) rennet works the same way. A common mistake is cutting the curd before it gives a clean break, which leaves a soft, wet cheese that sours instead of ripening. Chef's tip: grate aged guda over hot ghomi or khinkali; its strong flavour goes a long way.

120 minGeorgianBasicsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sulguni

Sulguni is the famous cheese of Samegrelo, made in Zugdidi homes by taking fresh, slightly soured curd, cutting it up and working it in hot water until it can be pulled into a glossy, layered, salty ball. It is eaten in thick slices, melted into elarji and khachapuri, and smoked over embers for a darker version. The curd has to be acidic enough to stretch, so you make the cheese one day and stretch it the next, or buy fresh Imeretian cheese and start from there. Traditionally animal rennet is used; vegetarian rennet works too. A common mistake is trying to stretch fresh, sweet curd; it melts into a puddle instead of pulling. Chef's tip: test a small piece in hot water first; if it stretches 30 cm without breaking, the curd is ready.

70 minGeorgianBasicsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Goes well with live plain yogurt