Anyone who has visited Greece is remembered not only the sunny azure coast, quiet cozy streets with small bakeries baking fragrant homemade bread. Unbelievably beautiful, stylishly and tastefully decorated taverns leave a mark in the soul, where classic Greek zaziki is prepared, the recipe of which is passed on from generation to generation. It is important to note that not only tourists, but also local residents themselves argue that it is simply impossible to come up with tastier and more appropriate snacks for a hot summer evening.
Zaziki sauce (a recipe with low-fat sour cream) has gained particular popularity among people who are eager to eat properly and have only natural, environmentally friendly and high-quality products on their table. Zaziki goes well with both hot and cold dishes. The sauce is especially good along with classic Greek bread, crispy, just taken out of the oven. Excellent tzatziki goes well with grilled meat. Even french fries or baked zucchini in the oven will be appropriate to serve with this sauce.
Zaziki Recipe History
Back in the days of the Greek "symposiums", known throughout the world, they prepared a dish consisting of fresh cucumbers and low-fat homemade yogurt. It was called at that time Mittiko. After several centuries, the recipe has been modified and improved. Chefs began to add olives, white wine and cheese, chicken eggs to the dish.
After some time, the sauce came into the cookbooks of Turkish cooks. Here he was called dzhadzhik. After the Ottoman yoke, the sauce was somehow renamed from the Turkish “cacik” to the modern Greek “τζατζίκι". If you compare two dishes, then the Turkish appetizer, despite the presence of the same ingredients, is slightly different in taste and texture.
On more than one occasion, travelers upon arrival home tried to reproduce the classic Greek recipe for zaziki, but few succeeded. In a Greek tavern, both olive oil is real natural, and olives from the nearest tree, and yogurt is cooked in a special way.
The classic zaziki recipe
Trying to cook this incredible sauce at home is a must. This appetizer is not only easy to cook, but also a tasty, healthy, diet low-calorie dish. It will be an excellent addition to meat, fish, bread or vegetables.
Ingredients
So we need:
- 500 ml of fresh Greek yogurt;
- one table. a spoon of vinegar;
- 4-5 teeth garlic
- a pair of small cucumbers;
- salt;
- olive oil - 120 ml.
Description of the cooking process
Cucumber must be washed and grated on a fine grater. What to do with the peel? If it is too coarse, then it can be cleaned. If you took young cucumbers only from the garden for a zazadiki recipe, you can rub them together with green skin. Mix the mass with salt and wring it out, after shifting it into a colander. It is very important to squeeze all the juice out of the cucumbers. If everything is done correctly, then after mixing cucumbers and yogurt you get the correct viscous consistency of the sauce.
Peel the garlic cloves and cut in half. It is very important to remove the middle or arrows that are inside the clove before chopping the garlic. Thus, you save the dish from an unpleasant harsh taste and smell. Garlic is best minced in a wooden spice mortar. You can add a little salt and a spoonful of olive oil to it.
We mix in a salad bowl yogurt, garlic and cucumber masses, a pinch of salt, wine vinegar, olive oil. On top of the dish is decorated with a sprig of greens and a whole olive.
Dzadziki with cottage cheese recipe
Another interesting option for the preparation of this sauce involves the use of cottage cheese and herbs. This recipe, we warn you right away, will be slightly more caloric than the first, as there is also a fat homemade sour cream in the composition.
What ingredients are needed?
We will need:
- 3 medium-sized cucumbers;
- 220 g sour cream;
- 160 g of cottage cheese;
- 5 cloves of garlic;
- a large bunch of parsley;
- salt;
- lemon juice.
How to cook?
According to the classic recipe, zaziki with cottage cheese is cooked as fast as the option using yogurt. We begin the cooking process by peeling the cucumber. Then we grate it very finely. It is recommended to chop the garlic in a mortar without using a garlic squeezer. All the taste and aroma will remain in the sauce, and will not be distributed on the walls of the crush. When grinding, add finely chopped parsley, salt and a little olive oil to the garlic.
Add the grated cucumbers to the garlic mass. Mix. Grind sour cream with cottage cheese using a fork. We send them to the cucumber-garlic mass. Squeeze the juice of lemon, pour a little olive oil. Thoroughly mix all the products.
Recipe with Pickles
If fresh cucumbers are most often added to a zaziki recipe in the summer, then in winter, Greek housewives prefer to use pickled pickles. As you know, fresh cucumber cools the body, it is better to use it in the summer heat. In winter, it will freeze the oral cavity, and the stomach, and receptors. For cold evenings, it is better to cook a dish with pickles. It will be just as tasty, but it will not give such a refreshing (overcooling) effect. It will be easy and pleasant to eat it.
Which products to take?
We will prepare:
- 2 cucumbers;
- 240 g sour cream or high-quality Greek yogurt;
- a bunch of parsley;
- pepper;
- 2 tooth. garlic
- salt;
- olive oil.
Description of cooking
Sour cream in a salad bowl and add a pinch of salt and a little pepper to it. We do not cut the skin from pickles, immediately grind them with a coarse grater. Do not forget to get rid of excess fluid by squeezing cucumber mass. Finely chop the parsley, add to the sour cream and cucumbers. It remains only to put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and garlic crushed in a mortar.
Variations on the Theme of Zaziki
There are a myriad of home-made recipes for zaziki sauce. Each housewife remodels the dish for herself, preparing it the way the family likes it. From here came a lot of recipes that can no longer be called classic. However, they are in no way inferior to the original in taste, aroma, freshness and low calorie content. For instance:
- Sour cream, feta cheese, herbs, garlic, red bell pepper.
- A lot of garlic, olive oil, herbs, cucumber, chopped lemon and sour milk.
- Cucumber, sea salt, olive oil, large black olives, yogurt.