Tzatziki | Recipe – The Food and Booze Logs

Tzatziki, one of the greatest dips known to man or just an overrated bit of yoghurt?

We’re going with the first option here. A bit of tzatziki on bread, or with the right dish and it’s almost like that time you found this genuine restaurant no one had ever heard of and had one of the greatest meals on the journey. Anyway, a pretty good dip.

But how do they make it? After sacrificing something or other to this or that you might find out that it’s apparently just yoghurt, grated cucumber, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, some salt and pepper. Go figure.

You may thank us for saving you from that whole ordeal later.

For two or three people who like tzatziki you’ll need about 250g of yoghurt, a third of a cucumber, 2-3 cloves of garlic, approximately 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. A very small amount of dried basil and dried oregano, or if you’re more traditional some fresh mint. Salt and black pepper.

If you get the Greek or Turkish kind of yoghurt you’re good to go, but if it’s plain yoghurt you might want to let it run off some, by pouring it into a strainer with a coffee filter or a piece of cloth until it has firmed up a bit.

Grate the cucumber and mix it with the yoghurt. Add the pressed garlic, lemon juice, herbs, salt and pepper and mix it together. Pour the olive oil over the mixture and stir it to create an integrated sauce. Check the taste, adjust as needed, and serve.

Pour a glass of retsina, dip a piece of bread in the tzatziki, and if you’re reading a menu with undecipherable text, next to a white wall, sitting in some blue chairs you might in fact be in Greece.

List of ingredients