Sunday, June 24, 2012

Tzatziki Sauce

Boy am I happy that Greek yogurt is such a trend right now - it's much easier to find for use in one of my favorite dishes of all time... Tzatziki sauce! This Greek sauce/dip is for GARLIC LOVERS ONLY! The way my family makes it and the way it's served in my little Greek home town (in FL), it has a kick to it from raw garlic (and lots of it). This is the sauce you will find on Souvlakis and Gyros, but it's also fantastic as a dip with pitas and veggies. And it's so healthy! Greek yogurt is so good for you! Embrace the garlic and you will love this creamy dip!



Tzatziki Sauce
Makes 2 cups
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Inactive Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients
16 oz plain fat free Greek yogurt
1 cucumber
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp dill
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Wash cucumber and slice in half length wise. Spoon out and discard the seeds. Pulse in the food processor until finely chopped (or just chop with a knife).

2. Layer 4 paper towels. Put chopped cucumber in the paper towels and squeeze out as much liquid as possible from the cucumbers.

3. Mix yogurt, cucumbers, minced (or crushed) garlic, dill, salt, and pepper. Cover and keep in the refrigerator for at least an hour, but as long as 5 hours is better.

4. Serve cold with pitas and veggies or on a Souvlaki or Gyro. Enjoy!



 The fresh ingredients! Like I said above, this recipe is for garlic lovers only. You WILL have garlic breath, but it will be worth it. I wouldn't recommend making this for date night unless you've been dating the person for at least a month :P

 Scoop out the seeds from the cucumber (just half of the cucumber is shown here).

Chop is large pieces so the food processor can cut more evenly.

Pulse until there are no big pieces left and the cucumber is pretty finely shredded.

This step is very important! Layer 4 or 5 paper towels and squeeze as much liquid out of the cucumbers as possible. You will be surprised at how much liquid comes out! This is crucial in keeping the dip thick!

Before Greek yogurt was so popular I used to have to buy regular plain yogurt and strain it in coffee filters to make it thicker! Greek yogurt is thick when you buy it so it makes the whole recipe much easier!

Mix all of the ingredients. The garlic crusher is my new best friend! It's so much easier than trying to mince the garlic. Refrigerate for AT LEAST an hour before serving. The garlic needs time to mix its flavor into the dip. Trust me, it might not taste terribly garlicy now, but give it a few hours and it will knock your socks off.


I'm in garlicy heaven.




4 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Liz this sauce is worlds better than the place in Melbourne mall! Haha and you won't have to deal with snooty employees if you make it yourself :P

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  2. I NEED SOME NOW. i have greek food withdrawl.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know what you mean Lauren! I was having withdrawals too and now I've been on a Greek food kick this week lol.

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