Are curd and sour cream typical middle-eastern food?

Are curd and sour cream typical middle-eastern food? - Top view of round plate with golden curd fritters decorated with powdered sugar and fresh mint near strawberry jam with whole berries and sour cream

I keep going to restaurants around my city (São Paulo) where in certain days of the week, some of them serve middle-eastern food.

Curiously, there's always a whitey cream that some of the restaurants call "sour cream" and some of them, call the same cream as "curd".

Sour Cream / Curd

Now I searched through Google and I discovered that both terms seem to describe different dishes, even though these restaurants interchange them as if they were the same thing.

Also, when looking on the web, I couldn't find much result on which one is right, some pages of middle-eastern cuisine doesn't even list it as one typical food, but they do list baba ghanoush and hummus, that is also served here. Which led me to think that sour cream isn't really from the middle-eastern cuisine, but just misthought to be, as it's similar to baba ghanoush and hummus.

Is sour cream and curd different food, or the same? Is it really from middle-eastern cuisine, or just some restaurants that think it is, when it isn't? And if it is, what is the correct name of it?



Best Answer

This looks like it's most likely labneh, a form of yogurt that's strained to remove some of its moisture. The texture can range from a thick sour-cream consistency to something like dense cream cheese, and it's common in the cuisines of the Mediterranean and Levant. Sometimes it takes the form of rolled balls, sometimes it's served as a dip or sandwich ingredient, but it always has the characteristic sour taste of yogurt. Often it's garnished with mint or za'atar, but not always, though it's usually served with olive oil.

It's also referred to variously as "strained" or "Greek" yogurt (which can mean something different than the common slightly-thickened "Greek yogurt" that's currently trendy in the United States) so I wouldn't be surprised if there were a slight difference in translation that's causing the confusion. As you've found in your research, "sour cream" in the US usually denotes cream that's cultured in the same way as yogurt. "Curd" is more confusing; in the US it usually refers to cheese formed by treating with acid to produce solid clumps, but it can also refer to similar substances produced from fruit, as in lemon curd.




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What are common Middle Eastern foods?

Top Most Popular Middle Eastern Foods
  • 01 of 09. Hummus. The Spruce. ...
  • 02 of 09. Tahini. Westend61 / Getty Images. ...
  • 03 of 09. Falafel. The Spruce. ...
  • 04 of 09. Tabouleh. The Spruce. ...
  • 05 of 09. Pita Bread. The Spruce. ...
  • 06 of 09. Baklawa or Baklava. sumbul / Getty Images. ...
  • 07 of 09. Baba Ghannouj. ...
  • 08 of 09. Turkish Coffee.


What is the most popular food in Middle East?

Falafel. And here it is, one of the most widely recognized and beloved Middle Eastern foods: the falafel sandwich. Ground chickpeas are blended with herbs and spices before being formed into patties and fried.

Is Arabic food sour?

Compared to other Mediterranean cuisines Lebanese cuisine stands out for its sourness. A zesty taste in several of our renowned dishes is desired no matter the season, be it a meal, a snack or nibbles to accompany drinks.

Is curd and sour cream the same thing?

The fat that rose to form that crust of extra creamy dahi, which is so delicious to skim off and eat, is essentially sour cream. This is why its basic flavour seems so familiar, but in dahi dominated India making cream was not a priority.



ردة فعل الأجانب من العشاء العربي | Non-Arabs react to Arabic dinner




More answers regarding are curd and sour cream typical middle-eastern food?

Answer 2

Is sour cream and curd different food, or the same? Is it really from middle-eastern cuisine, or just some restaurants that think it is, when it isn't? And if it is, what is the correct name of it?

Curds are the product of of milk that has been coagulated. It is basically the same process that makes your blood turn into scabs when we bleed. When acids like lemon juice or citric acid or rennet is introduced to the milk the process of curdling is initiated. This leads to the milk proteins (Casein) to form solid masses which is what results in curds.

Sour Cream on the other hand is cream that has been fermented with the use of certain lactic acid producing bacteria. The lactic acid that the bacteria produces thickens and sours the cream.

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