Tsadziki

Last week, whilst waiting with friends at our place for dinner to arrive, I pulled out some hummus that I had made earlier to snack on. (If you missed the recipe, you can find it here.) Our friends seemed to really like it, and it got me thinking that I had yet to find a really good tsadziki recipe to accompany it. Up until then, my favourite yogurt-cucumber dip could be found made by the “Greek Girls” at the farmer’s market, but none of the recipes I had tried had measured up. Hmm.

Well, during the last few months of de-cluttering and downsizing, I unearthed an old cookbook from the early 80’s entitled “Greek Vegetarian Cooking”. Why not give their recipe a shot? And so… the perfect tsadziki recipe was found. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. 😉

Tsadziki

• 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• salt and pepper (to taste)
• 2 tsp olive oil (I used extra virgin)
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar (wine vinegar would work too)
• 1 cup Greek-style yogurt (that’s the really thick stuff)
• 1 cup cucumber, coarsely grated (I used a Long English)

In a bowl combine the salt and pepper (start with 1/2 tsp each and work your way up after you’ve tried the finished product if need be) with the garlic. Smush them all together, really working the grains into the pulp. Add the oil and liquify the pulp. Mix in the vinegar. Add the yogurt and slowly mix until blended. Add the cucumber and mix well. Chill before serving. So easy, but soooo good!

Note: If you can’t find “Greek-style” yogurt, you can always try to make some thicker yogurt yourself – doing the whole straining out the excess liquid from regular, plain yogurt through a cheese-cloth covered sieve in the fridge for hours – but I’ve never had much luck with that. Also, if the cucumber is really fresh (and thus really liquidy), you can always try to absorb some of the liquid with paper towels or strain it through a strainer with a pinch of salt… but for me, this always seems like too much effort for the end result.

Anyhow. I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but here’s something to chew on for a bit. Hope your summer is going well, and hope to see you here again soon! =)