Tzatziki- Yoghurt Dip
Greek food is a huge part of the Mediterranean cuisine. And I love a good dollop of Tzatziki on my Pita pockets. I usually like to plunk in roasted chicken or lamb in the pocket along with some veggies/ pickles and top it up with tzatziki. It is very refreshing, light and soothing. Goes great with something spicy and hot.
Lets simplify the tzatziki. In simple terms it is thick strained yoghurt/ curd with cucumbers, salt, garlic and some herb like mint/ parsley/ dill/ coriander. Its makes a great dip or an even greater topping. Its low fat (if you take low fat yoghurt) and makes a good sandwich spread too. I'd say its a pretty good and flavourful substitute to the plain old mayo.
Serves: 6
Complexity: **
Time: 10 mins
You'll need
3 cups low fat yoghurt (if you are using greek yoghurt, you'll need half that quantity because that is already thick)
1 big cucumber (peeled, deseeded if you like)
4-5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
small bunch of parsley (flat leaf preferably)
pinch of love
Method*
The most important and time consuming step is to strain the yoghurt. I used muslin cloth to strain my curd and hung it for about 4 hours to let excess water drain. You started with 3 cups of yoghurt, should be left with about 1- 1 1/2 cups. I was just left with a ball of curd then, almost like fresh mozzarella or cottage cheese although this has a smooth texture and isn't crumbly.
Take your cucumber and grate using a grater. Don't use the fine grater. Use the one with larger holes. Grate the whole cucumber and squeeze majority of the juice out of it. Add it to the thickened curd. To this add garlic and salt, add more garlic if you like, but I find that this works well for most people. Chop your parsley finely and add along with love to the tzatziki. Mix and combine all the ingredients well. Give it a taste test and adjust the seasonings if required. You can even add a little white pepper if you want to give it a kick. Use it in whatever way you like or check out how I used it. Indulge! :)
* I totally missed out on taking pics step by step. Apologies. Will try to be a little more focused the next time! :)
Lets simplify the tzatziki. In simple terms it is thick strained yoghurt/ curd with cucumbers, salt, garlic and some herb like mint/ parsley/ dill/ coriander. Its makes a great dip or an even greater topping. Its low fat (if you take low fat yoghurt) and makes a good sandwich spread too. I'd say its a pretty good and flavourful substitute to the plain old mayo.
Serves: 6
Complexity: **
Time: 10 mins
You'll need
3 cups low fat yoghurt (if you are using greek yoghurt, you'll need half that quantity because that is already thick)
1 big cucumber (peeled, deseeded if you like)
4-5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
small bunch of parsley (flat leaf preferably)
pinch of love
Method*
The most important and time consuming step is to strain the yoghurt. I used muslin cloth to strain my curd and hung it for about 4 hours to let excess water drain. You started with 3 cups of yoghurt, should be left with about 1- 1 1/2 cups. I was just left with a ball of curd then, almost like fresh mozzarella or cottage cheese although this has a smooth texture and isn't crumbly.
Take your cucumber and grate using a grater. Don't use the fine grater. Use the one with larger holes. Grate the whole cucumber and squeeze majority of the juice out of it. Add it to the thickened curd. To this add garlic and salt, add more garlic if you like, but I find that this works well for most people. Chop your parsley finely and add along with love to the tzatziki. Mix and combine all the ingredients well. Give it a taste test and adjust the seasonings if required. You can even add a little white pepper if you want to give it a kick. Use it in whatever way you like or check out how I used it. Indulge! :)
* I totally missed out on taking pics step by step. Apologies. Will try to be a little more focused the next time! :)
Comments
Post a Comment