Kashk or Whey

Introducing themes to my blog and this week it’s going to be recipes using kashk or whey. You can buy kashk from any Iranian grocery store or you can easily make it at home yourself. It’s not easy to find in your local supermarket but if you don’t live within easy access of an Iranian store, you’ll probably find it in an Indian grocery store too . I’ve always bought it for convenience but there’s a first time for everything!

Kashk or whey is suprising useful, not only for Persian cooking but also in Italian dishes, for soups, cheese, biscuits and pastries , a substitute for cream and you can even make chocolate with it. I’m not going to include all those recipes  but you can easily find them via a search engine. Kashk or whey  is gluten-free for people with coeliacs, it’s vegetarian and has a high protein content. It’s also high in lactose so for those with lactose intolerance, beware. Swedish nutritionalists have found that kashk promotes the easy release of insulin and therefore is helpful to people with type 2 diabetes. Please talk to your doctor about this if you have diabetes.

HOW TO MAKE KASHK OR WHEY

This recipe will make about 1/2 pt of  kashk. If you divide it up and store in airtight containers you can keep it in the freezer for to use as needed.

Ingredients:

• 3 pints of natural unsweetened yoghurt
• 1 tablespoon of salt.
  
• 4 oz of water
  
• 2 pieces of cheesecloth
  

Method:

First make the yoghurt sour

1. Keep the yoghurt at room temperature for about 2 days or until the yoghurt becomes a little tangy. It should begin to smell quite strong and have a sour taste.
2. Using a blender, add the yoghurt along with the water and salt and allow to blend away for about 6 minutes or until smooth.
3. Place in a pan and bring to the boil. It should become quite thick and lumpy at this point.
4. Take the 2 cheesecloth layers and drain the yogurt through them.
5. Make a knot with the ends of the cheesecloth and leave the remaining yoghurt to drip away. The best way to do this is using a wooden spoon suspended over a bowl. If you don’t have any cheesecloth use a fine mesh drainer.
6. After 30 mins, the remains of the yoghurt left in the cheesecloth is Kashk or whey. To make the process more speedy, add some weight on the top.
7. Take the kashk or whey and form small balls sqeezing the kashk as you go (make the balls  about the size of an average ice cube or plum). Then simply  leave to dry out a little before freezing.

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