Here is my ‘secret’ recipe for Spicy Balls. The 2 main ingredients are homemade yogurt and habanero salt, so really, it’s not much of a recipe. It’s more of a technique or method.
This is slow food. There is really very little to do, just a lot of time waiting for the whey to drain out of the yogurt. And wait. And drain. And wait.
Ingredients
For the Balls:
- 1 gallon Homemade Yogurt (see this post)
- 1 tbsp Habanero Pepper Salt (the secret ingredient)
For the Preservative:
- Extra Light Tasting Olive Oil, approximately 2 cups
- 1 tsp Dill Weed
- 1 tbsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 1 tsp Garlic Salt (or 2 cloves Garlic, minced. I’m looking at you Kirkland.)
Method
Strain the yogurt through butter muslin. Don’t use regular cheesecloth, it is not fine enough. You can order butter muslin online (try New England Cheesemaking).
To strain the yogurt, drape the butter muslin over a large bowl then pour/shake the yogurt into it.
Draw up 2 opposite corners of the muslin and tie them together in a double knot, there will be a little gap under the knot. Then draw up the other 2 opposite corners, push them through the gap and tie them together in a knot. This makes a bag to hang over the bowl.
I have a hook under my cabinet that I use to hang the yogurt while the whey drains. You can also drain the yogurt using a large pot. Hang the yogurt bag to drain into the pot from a long wooden spoon or dowel laid across the top of the pot. The amount of yogurt left will be about half of what you started with. Do this in the evening and in the morning (7-8 hours) the yogurt is ready for the next draining setup.
If you don’t want to make the balls, you can mix in the habanero salt now for a very creamy spread. Put it into a container, cover it tightly and keep refrigerated.
The next step is to drain the yogurt again, keeping it refrigerated this time. Euro Cuisine makes an ultra fine (Greek Yogurt) strainer which is perfect for this (available on Amazon). Turn the yogurt out of the butter muslin and into the strainer then pop the strainer into the fridge for another day (24 hours or so).
Or, you can skip this step if you don’t have an ultra fine strainer and repeat the next drainage step (using paper towels) an additional time.
Pictured behind the yogurt cheese is the greenish yellow whey from the first draining. Do something with it if you like. Smoothies, cook pasta in it, use it in recipes instead of milk, put it on your compost pile, etc.
Dump the yogurt from the fine strainer into a mixing bowl. Sprinkle on the habanero salt and mix it in well with a spatula.
Line a baking sheet or flat serving dish with 3 layers of paper towels. Use a melon baller to scoop out a tablespoon size ball and drop it onto the paper towels. After you have scooped out all the yogurt balls, cover the balls with another layer or two of paper towels and put them back in the refrigerator for another day. More whey will drain into the paper towels.
If you skipped the fine mesh strainer step, you can change out the paper towels and put them back into the refrigerator for another day on fresh paper towels.
These are ready to eat. But since you went to all that trouble to make the balls, let’s get out some wide mouth canning jars and preserve them in olive oil.
Preserving in Olive Oil
Gently drop the yogurt balls into wide mouth canning jars. From a gallon of yogurt, you will probably need three or four pint size jars.
Mix together the olive oil, spices and garlic. Pour a little of the mixture into each packed jar, then repeat until you have used all of the olive oil mixture you prepared. You can top off the jars with a little more plain olive oil if you need more to cover the balls.
I like to keep this in a wine fridge at about 55℉ so the olive oil does not solidify. You can store the jars in the fridge too, you’ll just have to set them out at room temperature for a bit before eating if the olive oil has solidified.
Notes:
I’ve included pictures below of the ingredients I use for the spicy balls.
The olive oil is HEB Extra Light Tasting Olive Oil. It is inexpensive and does not have a strong taste. If you want to use or mix in your favorite EVOO, go for it. Also, you might want to reuse the flavored olive oil when the yogurt is gone. I have found that it does not keep well if you don’t use it up fairly quickly.
I get the Habanero Pepper Salt at Central Market in the bulk section. The company is Southern Style Spice Company and it’s located here in Texas (near Austin). I don’t think these balls would be as wonderful as they are without this awesome salt. (It’s also really good on hard boiled eggs. 🙂 )
If you don’t have a melon baller, you can scoop out about a tablespoon and roll it into a ball with your hands. Put a little bit of olive oil on your hands first so the yogurt doesn’t stick. It’s a pain in the #!@ to do it this way, and I totally abandoned it since COVID.
And of course, Mill-King milk to make your yogurt! Woot.
I am not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned here.
