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| Polski: Tzatziki, tzadziki lub tsatsiki - najpopularniejsza przystawka w kuchni greckiej English: Tzatziki, tzadziki, or tsatsiki - Greek meze or appetizer, also used as a sauce (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Outside
of Jadda’s sliding glass door was the
not-so-Secret Garden for our apartment building. While its existence irritated
the manager to no end, it delighted us neighbors. The bright fruits and
vegetables overwhelmed Jadda’s ability to cook and consume, and so she
generously offered them around.
I know that several of the single moms, like,
Mrs. Agnew, the lady for whom I babysat, depended on this generosity to feed
their kids nutritiously. My mother swore
that the herbs that Jadda made into medicinal concoctions did more for her than
the pharmacopeia that lay beside her bed.
Jadda
loved making people happy with her abundant produce. She even planted cucumbers
for Mrs. Drinkwater’s afternoon tea sandwiches and for her husband’s tzatziki,
though she wouldn’t touch it - cucumbers made her burp.
Tzatziki is a creamy sauce made from Greek yoghurt
and grated cucumbers.
I love tzatziki. I love it not just as a dipping
sauce to cool the heat from the kebabs but for some unconventional things too.
For example, I like to slather it on a piece of pumpernickel and slice a radish
over the top with a sprinkle of salt and a twist of freshly ground pepper. I
will dollop it on slices of eggplant or zucchini that I have crisped on the
grill (or dredged in egg then flour and fried). I serve this as before dinner snack.
Sometimes I will skip the draining step so the tzatziki is more liquid-y, and
I can use it as a salad dressing (over a salad of Jadda’s veggies).
It’s easy-peezy to make.
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| Polski: Tzatziki, tzadziki lub tsatsiki - najpopularniejsza przystawka w kuchni greckiej (składniki) English: Tzatziki, tzadziki, or tsatsiki - Greek meze or appetizer, also used as a sauce (components) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
2 cups of Greek yoghurt (plain)
1 English cucumber
4 cloves of garlic
1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
1T red wine vinegar
4T minced fresh dill
Salt and fresh pepper to taste.
Slice an English cucumber and put it in a colander in the sink. Sprinkle with salt to pull out the excess liquid. Take another colander and line it with a cheesecloth (or piece of fabric) and put the Greek yoghurt in to drain. After about a half-hour rinse the cucumber and squeeze. From this point, you can grate or chop the cucumber into tiny pieces.
In a plastic storage bowl, add all of your ingredients EXCEPT the salt and pepper. Cover and place in the fridge. Let it mature for at least a half-hour. Before serving give it a stir and now add your salt and pepper. PLEASE do this addition in small quantities because it is such a delicate flavor that it can quickly become over powered. It looks pretty with a sprig of dill on top.
