Have you ever made your own cheese? If no, is it because you are afraid it is too complicated? That was my reason not to try it until recently – first time I made it last summer. When I dared it, I opted for a Turkish 🇹🇷 recipe, later I learned that in Croatia 🇭🇷 we (I am a Croatian living in Croatia but I had no idea 🤣) have essentially the same type of cheese. In Turkey this is called köy peyniri, village cheese (in fact it is one of its variations) and in Croatia we call it domaći kuhani sir, homemade cooked cheese. The only difference I noticed is that Turks tend to use both vinegar and lemon juice, while we Croatians tend to use only vinegar for separating the curd from whey. I prefer to use both, i. e. Turkish style. Most probably other countries have such cheeses too, but as I am not sure, I am counting this as a Turkish recipe.

Be it as it may, this cheese is super-easy to make and, provided the milk you use is proper, natural village milk it is (almost) foolproof. Before you try my recipe, you should note that you will need a pot (preferably one with a heavy bottom), a colander and a bowl, something heavy (another pot filled with water, for example) and some clean cloth for filtering the cheese (I use gauze bought at a pharmacy). If you want to spice it up, or want to make it slightly different than the basic version, please check the notes at the bottom.

Suitable for: This cheese is halal and kosher (provided the milk is kosher), without glutene, eggs, nuts, soy or shellfish. However, it is not lactose-free.

PDF-recipe for collecting and printing

⌚ 30 min + minimum 6 hours waiting time

🇹🇷 🇹🇷

Ingredients (for a piece of ca. 300 g)

2 L natural (village, unpasteurised) milk, juice of half a lemon, 3 tbsp apple vinegar, 1 tbsp salt

How to

Transfer the milk to a pot, bring to a boil, occasionally stirring. Turn the heat down to low, add salt and lemon juice. Boil 2-3 minutes more, again occasionally stirring. Add vinegar, stir for 1-2 minutes. Continue to boil on low heat for 10-15 minutes, until you notice curd separating from whey. Turn heat off.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the curd onto gauze, which you have put over a colander sitting on top of a bowl.

Pull it tight, pressing as much liquid out as possible, then put a heavy thing on top of it and let it rest for 6 or more hours. When you unwrap it, you can enjoy your first selfmade cheese!

Notes

You can store this cheese in the refrigerator for about one week, either as it is or in a bit of salted whey you saved after draining (if you choose this option, the cheese will get a more mozzarella-like texture).

When preparing it, before pull8ng the gauze tight you can add some or all of the following to the curd: chopped chives, red pepper flakes, nigella seeds,…

You can also decide not to press it tight, then you will get a cheese curd called lor in Turkey. Or you can just let it drain for some 15-30 minutes and then blend it with some additional salt and 2-3 spoonfuls of olive oil into a lovely spread (lordan sürmelik peynir).