Middle Eastern String Cheese
By: Barnaby Dorfman
Published: Saturday, February 13, 2010 - 10:27pm

Ingredients




1 pound Mozzarella curd
Mahleb
Black caraway seeds
Salt

Preparation

1 Place cheese in a Teflon saucepan and add a dash of mahleb and salt and a sprinkling of black seeds. Heat on low until cheese is melted thoroughly. Remove from heat and drain excess water. 2 Pick up hot cheese in a lump, and make a hole in the center to resemble a doughnut. 3 With both hands, stretch and turn the cheese to form a large loop. 4 Double the strand of cheese, making two strands of cheese of even length. Repeat, stretching and looping; the more you stretch the stringier the cheese becomes. Repeat stretching several times. Twist ends in opposite directions and intertwine rope into a braid. Place one end through the loop of the other to lock it. 5 Set cheese aside to dry thoroughly. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze. 6 To serve, open braid, cut one loop and pull cheese apart into thin strands. Serve with pocket bread.