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String Cheese (Jebeneh Mshalaleh) Recipe

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This recipe for String Cheese (Jebeneh Mshalaleh) is from Zouka's Middle Eastern Cuisine and Beyond , one of the cookbooks created at FamilyCookbookProject.com. We'll help you start your own personal cookbook! It's easy and fun. Click here to start your own cookbook!
Category:
Category:
Ingredients:  
Ingredients:  
10 lbs curd cheese (sliced and crumbled)
4 cups kosher salt
5 tbsp ground mahlab (St. Lucie cherry)
3 tbsp habet barakeh (black caraway seeds)
You will need water and 2 wooden spoons
Directions:
Directions:
Slice the cheese thinly and keep at room temp for 1 hour before using it. You will need 2 large tubs. In the first tub, add 30 cups of water to dissolve the salt very well and set it aside (so it's ready ahead of time.) In the second tub, add cold water and ice and fill halfway. Set aside and keep it ready.

Melt about 1 lb of cheese at a time. Now, bring a non-stick deep pan to melt the cheese. Use the stove to heat the pan on medium heat, and add a 1/3 cup of water. Then, add the sliced cheeses and begin to stir and mix to melt it. Do not over melt. Stir and pull it together. Pick up the melted cheeses into an open pan. Next, add a pinch of the black seeds and mahlab. Fold it fast and cut into 2 portions, then ball it up and open the middle into a donut shape.

Quickly stretch out, twist and fold the cheese several time and keep folding and stretching until the cheese cools and is no longer stretchy. Twist together and knot into itself. Then, drop it into the cold water first. After all the cheeses are made, you can remove them from the cold water and into the salt water tub. Keep it in salt water for 2 hours, then remove the cheese from the salt water and into a strainer and drain. Use a sandwich bag to reserve each cheese separately. Freeze until it's time to use. Defrost a day before and rinse it out. Lastly, cut it and serve with pita bread or any bread you like.
Personal Notes:
Personal Notes:
This recipe can be hard to make, but it is delicious and worth it! This is our family tradition.

 

 

 

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