Chunky Tzatziki

Did everyone enjoy Super Bowl Sunday? I ate a ton of junk food and it was awesome. I should probably only eat healthy food for the next two years to cleanse my system a bit. Today's recipe is a sauce, but it's pretty healthy so I think I could eat some and feel good about myself.

I love tzatziki and if you don't, you can't sit here. What? Anyway, my favorite tzatziki recipe is the one that my favorite diner makes. It's super chunky, thick, and delicious and it's changed the way I make tzatziki at home. Instead of cubing the cucumbers, now I grate them and I use four times as many. This sauce is really delicious but be warned, it's got a good kick of garlic so it'll make your breath really stinky. Ha, hopefully that won't deter you from wanting to make this sauce. If you make it for date night, just make sure both of you indulge - two garlics cancel each other out, I think. I guess you should have some gum or mints on standby, just in case.
Ingredients [yields approximately 1.5 cups of sauce]:
1 cup greek yogurt
3 baby seedless cucumbers (kirby cucumbers or small English cucumbers are the best)
1 clove minced garlic
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt

Start by grating the cucumbers on the coarse side of a box grater. Then, squeeze handfuls of the cucumber, in batches, to get out the excess moisture. You could save the cucumber juice for a fancy cocktail or something. Baby cucumbers are preferable here because they have little to no seeds and the flesh itself has an almost delicate spongey texture so the little pieces of cucumber soak up a lot of flavor.
Squeeze a little lemon over the cucumbers and add in some garlic and salt. Dump in the yogurt and then mix all of the ingredients together. Tada! That's all there is to it. Keep the sauce refrigerated until you're ready to serve. And the good news is that the sauce gets better the longer it sits because the flavors meld together more and more so you can make this a day in advance.
Serve it with a lovely Greek feast, like chicken souvlaki! Oh, and see that colorful couscous in the middle? I will be sharing that tomorrow so get excited!

Here's the recipe page:

Comments