Tzatziki - Greek Cucumber and Yogurt Dip

Tzatziki is a Greek Yogurt based recipe. It can be used in a variety of ways. It can used a dip - will work great with some Pita Bread, Carrot or Celery sticks. It can be used along with fillings in a Pita Pocket. You can use this as a substitute for Mayo in Burgers. You can also use it as a Raita with Indian Style Rice or Parata.




Tzatziki primarily has thick yogurt and cucumber. It is then flavoured with garlic. Olive Oil gives it an awesome taste. I would highly recommend that you do not substitute it. Lemon Juice for tanginess. And finally for some freshness add some mint or even basil.



Ingredients

Greek Yogurt 500gm (see below)
Cucumber 1
Garlic 2 pods
Olive Oil 2 tbsp
Lemon Juice 1 tbsp
Mint 10-15
Salt a little

Method of Preparation

1. Add the Greek Yogurt to the mixing bowl. Don't worry if you cannot fins Greek Yogurt. It is nothing but thick yogurt. Just hang some regular yogurt in a muslin cloth till the excess water is drained off. If you are going to be bothered with that, you can skip that as well. You will just end up with a little runny dip. No issues.

2. Grate the cucumber. Some recipes call for pealing and de-seeding the cucumber. I did not bother doing that. You can choose how big you want to grate the cucumber. I did big size grating. Drain out excess water from the cucumber.

3. Finely grate the garlic. Finely chop the mint leaves.

4. Add the salt, olive oil and lemon juice to the yogurt and mix well.

5. Finally add in the cucumber and garlic. Stir again.