Ingredients
Drink
- 500 gsuzma, or thick strained yoghurt
- 1 litrevery cold water
- 1½ tsp salt
- ice
Optional
- 200 mlsparkling mineral water
- chopped dill
- sliced cucumber
Directions
- Use suzma if you can find it, which is yoghurt drained until it is nearly a soft cheese. Ordinary yoghurt makes a thinner drink that separates much faster.
- Put the suzma in a large jug and break it up thoroughly with a whisk.
- Add the salt and only about 200 ml of the cold water, and whisk it into a completely smooth paste before any more water goes in.
- Getting it smooth while it is still thick is the whole trick. Add all the water at once and you are left with small lumps of yoghurt suspended in salty water, and no amount of later whisking disperses them.
- Whisk in the remaining water gradually, until it pours like thin cream.
- Taste and adjust the salt. Chalap should be properly salty rather than faintly so, because it exists to replace what a Bishkek summer takes out of you.
- Chill it hard, or serve it straight over plenty of ice.
- Add sparkling water at the last moment if you want it fizzy, which many vendors do.
- Stir the jug before each pour. It separates within minutes, and that is normal rather than a fault.
Technique
- Thick first, thin later. Every lumpy chalap comes from adding the water too fast.
- Bishkek vendors sell it from painted barrels alongside maksym right through the summer, and the two are drunk more or less interchangeably.
- Salt it more than feels right. Under-salted, it just tastes like watery yoghurt.
Substitutions
- Greek yoghurt thinned with rather more water.
- Ayran or doogh, which are essentially the same drink under other names.
Variations
- With chopped dill and sliced cucumber, which takes it towards a cold soup.
- Shalap, the Kazakh version, made with shubat rather than cow’s milk yoghurt.
- Unsalted and lightly sweetened, which some households make for children.
History
Bishkek vendors sell chalap beside maksym from painted barrels through the summer.
Frequently asked questions
What is Chalap?
Chalap is a drink from Kyrgyzstan: salted sour milk thinned with water, sold cold from street tanks. Bishkek vendors sell chalap beside maksym from painted barrels through the summer.
How long does Chalap take to make?
Chalap takes 10 min of preparation and no cooking at all. The recipe makes 1.5 litres. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Chalap?
Yes, within limits. Greek yoghurt thinned with rather more water. Ayran or doogh, which are essentially the same drink under other names.
What is the most important thing to get right in Chalap?
Getting it smooth while it is still thick is the whole trick. Add all the water at once and you are left with small lumps of yoghurt suspended in salty water, and no amount of later whisking disperses them.
