Homemade Yoghurt for the love of Cheese

Cheese, as we understand it in America, isn’t so available in most of Morocco. There is the “red ball” cheese (think Gouda), and Laughing Cow type cheese. Outside of the bigger cities, that’s about it. Not only that, but it is relatively expensive. Enough so that I hesitate buying it with my meager Peace Corps allowance.

I was in this cheese-deprived state when I read “Animal Vegetable Miracle” by Barbra Kingsolver, and realized I could actually make my own cheese. So in the slow months of the Summer I taught myself to make cheese. Not only that, but I taught myself to make cheese with locally available ingredients so I wouldn’t have to rely upon my care packages to sustain it.

You, too, can make cheese (if you aren’t already!) and without too much trouble. Let’s start with something fairly easy. Yoghurt. Then, even easier, yoghurt cheese made from that yoghurt. Note that you can use a bit of the yoghurt you made to make another batch of yoghurt--just add more milk!

Neighbor’s review of yoghurt cheese: Hadi Hsn mn lli kaybi3u f ay-blasa hna! (Translation: This is better than anything they sell around here!). They proved their point by scraping out every last bit from the container.

Yoghurt

1 gallon milk (4 liters)
1 cup plain yoghurt, fresh as possible
1 cup dehydrated milk powder

One large pot
Glass jars
Thermometer (optional)

Serialize your glass jars in boiling water for 5 minutes, set aside. Pour the milk into the large pot and scald the milk at 185-195 F (85-90 C). . Place pot in a pan of cold water and cool the milk to 122-130 F (50-55 C), remove from bath. If you do not have a thermometor, test the milk by sticking your pinky finger into it and counting to ten. If you have to remove your pinky before you reach ten, it is too hot. Mix one cup of cooled milk with one cup of yoghurt and cup of dry milk. Add yoghurt-milk slurry to 122 F (50 C) milk, stirring slowly until well combined. Distrubute the inoculated milk to sterilized jars, cover immediately.

Now to keep your jars warm, as the yoghurt bacteria love to get busy when it's warm! There are two main approaches to this.

The quick(er) way: If you want your yoghurt done within 3 hours, you will need to constantly maintain the 122-130 F (50-55 C) temperature. You do not want the temerature to rise too much above 130 F (55 C), as the bacteria working for you will die. One way to maintain temperature is with a water bath, preferably in a cooler, but it is also possible in a plugged sink, or a tub or anything else that will hold water and the jars. A cooler will help you maintain the optimum temperature for longer. In any case, you need to test the temperature of the water either with the thermometor or with the pinky method. Add warm water as nessisary. The yoghurt is done when it has gelled. Look for gelling after 3 hours, if the yoghurt is still pretty watery, allow for further incubating.

The easy way: If you don't mind waiting, and want less active time with the yoghurt, there are other ways to keep your jars warm. You can use a cooler again, but this time fill it with warm water and leave it over night, or for a period of time during the day. I don't have a cooler, and instead use a hot water bottle snuggled up with the jars under a blanket. If I tuck them in at night I have nice yoghurt waiting for me in the morning.

What to do with your yoghurt? Mix in fresh fruit, jam, and/or granola and have a great snack/breakfast. You can use it in sauces and baked goods too. Even better, why not try making yoghurt cheese?



Yoghurt Cheese

1 gallon of yoghurt
4 teaspoons salt

“Cheese cloth” (in Morocco the best fabric for this is called “toob l Hayati”, in America I would imagine something along the lines of a clean handkerchief.)

Sterilize your clean cheese cloth in boiling water for 5 minutes.

Stir up yoghurt to a smooth consistency in a large bowl. Add one teaspoon of salt, and mix thoroughly. Pour salted yoghurt into the sterile cloth in a strainer. Tie the corners of the cloth together, and suspend over a container or sink for up to 24 hours, or until desired consistency is obtained. Remove drained yoghurt from the cloth, store cheese in refrigerator.

Serve your cheese in a middle-eastern style with olives, olive oil or pulverized mint. Or just spread it right onto fresh bread.

Trouble-shooting yoghurt cheese: Sometimes I’ve found the yoghurt to be too thin, all of it wants to slip out of the cloth (make sure you aren’t using a cloth with a loose weave). I have a feeling this comes from the yoghurt being under-cooked (If you have another answer, please share it!). Try keeping your yoghurt warmer next time (but under 130 F/55 C), or cooking it longer. If the yoghurt is too thin for cheese I just eat it as yoghurt instead.

In Search of a Healthier Granola

When I think of granola I usually picture something fairly healthy. So I become somewhat disappointed when all I find are granola recipes featuring heaps of sugar and fat. Actually, these recipes sound a lot like an oatmeal cookie. Not that I have a problem with oatmeal cookies. It is just that I want to start my daily routine with something light and not too sweet or fatty. I will save those "special occasion" breakfasts for pancakes and donuts.

This granola is one that I make, continually modifying it, every time I run out. It bakes up nice and crunchy, mildly sweet and satisfying atop a heap of cut seasonal fruit. If you are looking for a sweet granola to snack on as-is, this might not be for you (though, you could add a cup of sugar if you want). I find it to be perfect with naturally sweet fruits or yogurt (pre-sweetened or plain with homemade jam). The almonds add bursts of nutty flavor when you crunch into them.

I found a trick to getting granola clusters by using quick-cooking oats and grinding part of them into flour. I add in the old-fashioned rolled oats for additional texture, but they could be replaced by more quick-cooking oats. The molasses and honey are also fairly interchangeable, guided by taste and what is on hand.



“Healthy” Granola

5 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 ½ cups raw almonds
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp salt
1 cup mashed over-ripe bananas, and/or applesauce
2 Tbsp molasses
2 Tbsp honey
1 ½ cups dried fruits, more or less to taste

Preheat your oven to low, 300F/150C. Grind 2 cups of the quick-cooking oats in a food processor until it becomes flour. Combine oat-flour in a large bowl with the remaining oats, the old-fashioned rolled oats, almonds, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. In a large measuring cup combine mashed bananas/applesauce, molasses and honey. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until everything is moistened. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Spread mixture out onto a large rimmed baking sheet. Break mixture into even clumps. Bake in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and stir, breaking up clumps into smaller clusters and making sure nothing is browning too fast. Return to oven. Every 10-15 minutes check on granola and stir. Granola can take for 1-1.5 hours for it to completely dry. Once dried, remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Mix in dried fruits.

Serve over chopped fruits and add milk or yoghurt. Store in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Mandarin Curd

This time of year the fruit choices start to narrow. What we have in abundance, especially here in Morocco, is oranges. Morocco is almost never short on this citrus, and it is difficult to find an orange that isn’t sweet and tart, full of juice. Naturally, I look for ways to take advantage of this beyond just peeling and eating the bounty. Keep an eye out for more orange recipes in the near future.

“Mandarin” is how Moroccans differentiate the smaller, easy-peel relative. These guys have a shorter period of availability, starting at the end of November and ending in February. They make for a great twist on the traditional lemon curd. The curd can be used as a spread on toast, over pancakes, as a tart filling, or, as I used it this week, as cupcake filling.

After looking through several recipes, I came up with one using what I had (which included 3 leftover egg yolks). The egg yolks make for a richer curd, but you could probably substitute 2 of the egg yolks for another whole egg.



Mandarin Curd
Makes 1 small jar

Juice and zest of 4 mandarin oranges
Juice of 1 lemon
¾ cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
3 egg yolks, beaten
3 T butter, cut into pieces

Add the zest and the juice of oranges and lemon in a medium pan with sugar, egg, and egg yolks. Whisk to combine. Cook on low heat, constantly stirring with a spoon, until thickened, about 15-20 minutes. Pour through a strainer into a bowl. Add butter and stir until incorporated. Pour curd into a sterilized jar and seal. Store in refrigerator up to two weeks.