Tzaziki
Yogurt, cucumber, olive oil, dill, garlic, salt, (optional lemon juice). Tzaziki is such a fundamental greek dip I can rattle off the ingredients without ever looking at the recipe. It is one of those perfect recipes that goes with anything. Meat, fish, or bread, you can add it anywhere and it will taste good. The coolness of the yogurt and cucumber calm your stomach down when you are eating a hearty meal. Omit the dill and cucumber and you still have a basic yogurt sauce that works on plenty of dishes. It’s the “American as apple pie” of greek cuisine.
So why is it when I go to a Greek restaurant I tend you get my gyro dry? It’s because most tzaziki SUCKS! You’d think people would know how to make it, but they can’t.. What’s going on? Tzaziki is all about technique-i.
Tzaziki typically fails for two reasons so we will explore them here
Tzaziki fail #1: It’s a watery mess
There is something particularly awful about a tzaziki that is wet. Yes its a dip, but the magic is in the consistency of the dip. Thick but still dippable. Structurable yet supple. Tzaziki should not be runny. Also, water should not pool on top when settling. It should keep its nice yogurtey consistency even after the addition of cucumber and oil.
Solution 1: Just use Fage 2%
We really lucked out when Fage Greek Yogurt was imported to America. My papou used to strain Mountain High yogurt in a cheese cloth over th sink all day to get the proper thickness of yogurt when making his tzaziki. It was a labor intensive process that took two days to to make tzaziki.
In the era of Fage, you can make tzaziki in 10 minutes. I tend to go for 2% as the whole milk (5%) version of Fage makes the tzaziki to thick. 2% offers a good balance and keeps the yogurt flavor at the proper levels. Also its something that we will typically have in our fridge. (The wife doesn’t like 5%. I don’t like nonfat since it has no flavor). 2% keeps the thickness at a good level without 8 hours of straining.
Solution 2: Remove the moisture from the cucumber
This is where the technique-i comes in. Making Tzaziki is really 2 steps. Straining the yogurt and squeezing out the cucumber. Since Fage takes care of step #1, the only thing you have to do is get the cucumber right. In the past, I would hand shred the cucumber with a potato peeler and then squeeze out the water, but things have gotten much easier with the advent of a food processor. Here are the steps I use. It’s a lot of steps but the whole thing only takes like 5 minutes.
Peel the skin off the cucumber
Cut the cucumber in half
Quarter lengthwise each half so they become cucumber spears
Slice the seeds off lengthwise so only the meaty portion of the cucumber is left (and then eat the yummy watery seed parts )
Cut the cucumber parts so they fit in a food processor
Process the shit out of it
Scoop out the pulp and place it in your palm
Squeeze the shit out of the pulp to get the remaining water out.
Stick it in a bowl
The food processor really makes things easy. Not only does it turn the cucumber into a nice pulp that will blend in with the yogurt, it also releases a bunch of the cucumber water. So you just have to do a light squeeze to get out the remaining water. Now you are ready to mix.
Tzaziki fail #2: The tzaziki gives me heartburn
The cure should not be worse than the disease. Yogurt coats your stomach so fatty or spicy foods are easier to digest. So why is this yogurt sauce keeping me up at night? With such a simple recipe there is only one ingredient that can cause the problem: garlic.
So how do you know how much garlic is too much… well you don’t. Really it comes down to trial and error to find a happy medium that works for you and your family. However, keep in mind two things
Garlic Fail #1: You can’t go back
Once you add too much garlic you can’t undo it. Sure you can try to balance it out by adding more yogurt and oil, but it gets really hard to fix and you spend a long time tweaking. It’s easier to just use less garlic and let the garlicy flavor be mure subtle. Remember that this sauce is there to calm your stomach, so keep your eyes on the prize
Garlic Fail #2: It get’s stronger over time
Time (not love… or cough syrup) is the secret ingredient in many dishes and tzaziki is no exception. The ingredients become “friends in the fridge.” The longer you let the dip sit, the more garlic flavor will come out. So again, less is more. An entire 32oz tub of Fage only takes 3-4 cloves total to do the job. And an entire tub of yogurt will feed 40 people.
Ingredients
I am including 2 sets of ingredient numbers here, one for dinner size (small) and 1 for party size (large). The large one is easier to calculate while the smaller one takes more tasting to balance it out
Dinner size (small)
1/2 a cucumber
3 scoops of Fage 2% yogurt
1 garlic clove
High quality olive oil
Sprigs of dill
lemon juice (optional)
salt
Party size (large)
32oz bucket of Fage 2% yogurt
2 cucumbers
3-4 cloves garlic
High quality olive oil
1/2 cup dill
lemon juice (optional)
salt
Method
Cut and squeeze the cucumber according to the method laid out above
Add the yogurt
Press and squeeze the garlic through a garlic press.
Add the garlic
Cut up the dill sprigs, removing the stems
Add the dill
Add some olive oil
Mix
Repeat steps 7-8 until you get a consistency you desire.
Add salt to taste
Add lemon to taste
Garnish with a few sprigs of dill on top, a little olive oil, and an olive or 2 for looks.
Serve with pita, or meat / fish dish
Alternative (no cucumber or dill)
A basic yogurt sauce can be made with yogurt, oil, lemon juice and salt. It still tastes good but has less of a distinct greekiness that the cucumber and dill add. We will often use this sauce when making chickpea patties or something more Mediterranean as opposed to Greek specific food.