Kashk
An Iranian dairy product of dried, salted fermented yoghurt or whey, used as a tangy topping.
Also: کشک, kashk-e mayeh, keshk
Kashk is one of the oldest preserved dairy foods of Iran and its neighbours. It is made by draining and drying the curd left after yoghurt or doogh has been churned for butter, rolling it into balls or cakes and drying them hard in the sun, much as qurut is made in Central Asia. To use it, the dried kashk is soaked and ground with water into a thick, sour, salty cream, now often sold ready-made in jars. It is drizzled over kashk-e bademjan, a smoky aubergine dish, and over ash reshteh, the noodle soup of Nowruz. The Arab kishk of Lebanon and Syria shares the name but is fermented bulgur with yoghurt.