Gebna bel Tamatem Recipe (Spicy Egyptian White Cheese-Tomato Dip): جبنة بالطماطم
Do you like this recipe? Please click here to rate it 🙏
Equipment
- medium sauce pan
Ingredients
Gebna Bel Tamatem
- 1 cup cottage cheese, store bought or see recipe below
- 1 finely chopped small red onions , or 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 ripe tomato, seeded and diced
- 1 bell pepper , diced
- 1 finely chopped green chili pepper, optional
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dry mint
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- salt & pepper, to taste
Gebna Kareesh (Cottage Cheese)
- 5 cups full fat milk
- 1 cup heavy cream, optional
- 1 teaspoon Himalayan salt
- 6 tablespoon s white distilled vinegar
Instructions
The Cottage Cheese:
- Pour milk and cream into a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Heat slowly to 190°F/88°C. Add the spoonful of salt and stir regularly so the milk doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pot.
- Pour in the vinegar and let the milk gently simmer on very low heat for 5 minutes or until the milk curdles, and the solids separate from the whey or the liquid.
- Meanwhile, line a fine-mesh sieve or colander with a clean piece of doubled cheesecloth. Place the colander over a deep bowl to catch the liquid (aka whey) that drips out.
- Pour the curdled milk into fine mesh sieve fitted over a deep bowl.
- When it cools down, gather the ends of the cheese cloth tightly together and form a cloth-wrapped ball of cheese and squeeze to force any liquid out. Ideally, leave the cottage cheese, and drain its liquid overnight in the fridge.
- When the cottage cheese is all dry, then it is ready assemble the Egyptian Cottage/Kareesh Cheese Dip.
Assemble Gebna Bel Tamatem
- Dump the cheese out of the cloth into a deep mixing bowl.
- Add the olive oil, mint, spices, tomato, and bell pepper and chili pepper and mix very well. Let it in the fridge for 30 minutes so the flavors will meld.
- Transfer the cheese to the serving dish, garnish with fresh mint, a drizzle of olive oil.
- Serve it with hot Egyptian Aish Baladi, hot pita or pita chips.
Nermine's Notes
Nermine's Notes
- Use full fat milk.
- As a rule of thumb, every cup of milk or cream calls for one tablespoon of acid, whether white distilled vinegar or lime juice.
- For a creamier cheese texture and denser body, add cooking cream to the milk.