Fermented Milk Products from All Over the World. Suzma
Suzma is a drained type of yogurt, which looks more like cream cheese rather than just plain yogurt. In order to make suzma, you need to prepare qatiq first. As mentioned earlier, qatiq is a liquid type of yogurt, which can be drunk or added as a souring agent to soups. Suzma, on the other hand, is served as a spread on bread, with tomatoes, as a dip, or instead of sour cream to various recipes. It has a creamy and thick consistency, due to the fact that excess liquid is drained from the qatiq. Still, the taste and flavor of the suzma depend very much on the taste and flavor of the qatiq, so it is important how you prepare it, as it will influence the way your suzma will come out as well.
So, if you want a sweet and creamy suzma, you need to be careful and let the qatiq ferment only as needed, so that it won’t get too sour. This means to follow the instructions of making qatiq with precision and not allow your qatiq to ferment more than 8 hours. If your qatiq gets sour, then you will have sour suzma as well. Once your qatiq is ready, mix it with salt, a tablespoon or less, according to your personal tastes and wrap it in cheesecloth. Make sure to hang the cheesecloth with your qatiq over a container, as the liquid will drip from it. So, secure the cheesecloth with a rubber band at its mouth, so that the qatiq won’t drip out of it, and allow it to hang over the container for several hours until it is sufficiently drained. About 7 to 8 hours will do. You can use the whey, which is the collected liquid, for making homemade bread, instead of water. Collect the newly formed suzma in glass containers and store them somewhere cool, like the fridge.
You can use suzma with bread, as a quick snack, topped with tomatoes or sundried tomatoes that were placed in the olive oil. Or you can add it to your soups, instead of sour cream, to your pasta, salads, and so on. You can even improve the initial suzma recipe, by adding finely chopped green onions, parsley, dill, and coriander, for herbs suzma. You can add blend beetroots, after they have been previously boiled, to enjoy pink suzma. Or you can use crushed garlic with salt and pepper. You can easily transform suzma in your favorite dip or spread, according to your preferences.
