The Ultimate Labneh Sandwich

The Ultimate Labneh Sandwich

"How to make a Labneh sandwich?". "How to eat Labne?". "What is Labni?". These are few of the google search results that I get on my blog everyday. The majority of my audience is not from the Middle East, so they read or hear about Labneh, but they just don't know how to eat it. I previously told you that I make my own organic 2% fat yogurt (read about it here), then I use the yogurt to make organic Labneh (read about it here), and I also use the by product whey to make Organic Cheese (Read about it here).  However, I want to cover an uber important issue, how to make the ultimate Labneh sandwich. The variations are endless, but this is how I like to make my sandwich and I am going to tell you the ultimate secret behind rolling a good old Middle Eastern Sandwich.

You can use any store bought Labneh, but I like to use my own homemade organic 2% Labneh. (read about it here) 

Because it is the ultimate Labneh sandwich, I love to use a thin Lavash sort of bread called Khebz Marqooq (خبز مرقوق), which it literally translates into thinly rolled down bread. I believe that almost every culture has it's version. My local Middle Eastern Market gets this bread once a week from LA. You can use pita bread too (here is my Pita bread recipe, read here). In the Middle East the Pita bread is much bigger and you can make a decent sandwich with it. 

Kheb Marqooq is a big thinly rolled down circular bread. I like to fold it in the middle and use half of it for my sandwich.

 Place a big dollop of Labneh in the middle

 Spread it on all the sandwich. Leave a 1 inch border all around. Add some more labneh, be generous and make sure that every inch inside the border is covered with Labneh

 Sprinkle some salt and add some excellent quality extra virgin olive oil. Use only Olive oil. Please don't use any canola or vegetable oil.

 Spread the olive oil all over

 Line up some pitted olives. You can use black or green. Again, this is the ultimate Labneh Sandwich, so make sure to pit the olives. I try my best to not leave any space between the olives. My motto is that every bite should be equally delicious.

 Add some cucumber. Use the persian style cucumber and not the english style cucumber. I also like green onion in my sandwich.

 Add some fresh green mint. I use fresh mint from my herb garden

 Add some tomatoes. I used fresh grape tomatoes from my garden. Heirloom tomatoes would be great too.

 Now here is the secret to rolling a sandwich that does not rip nor crumble...fold the lower and upper side. This will prevent the sandwich and its ingredients from exploding.

 And now start rolling the sandwich

 As tightly as you can

 Until you reach the end

Cut in half and enjoy with a cup of tea. No one in the Middle East eats a Labneh sandwich with coffee. You can add a sprinkle of Zaatar too. Now go and make the ultimate Labneh for breakfast/lunch or dinner. 

Enjoy!

Nadine

Pita bread recipe: click here

Homemade Organic 2% Yogurt: click here

Homemade Organic 2% Labneh: click here

Homemade Organic 2% Cheese: click here