Tzatziki recipe

While at cooking school, recipes were always circulating and being shared. A woman from another class had brought in her family recipe for homemade tzatziki and it actually sat in my book for a very long time. I decided about 4 years after finishing cooking school to give it a try. Oh. Em. Gee. This is incredible! It is fresh and wonderful. The strength of the garlic flavor ultimately rests on the garlic you choose, but even with varying strengths, it always tastes incredible. There is a little work to this, but definitely worth it. I will probably have to try this recipe again with the new Greek yogurts that are now available to see if steps can be cut out. Be sure to start your tzatziki the day before you need to it to ensure it's ready.

Tzatziki
source: M.M. via Sandra @ Little Bit Little Bite

Ingredients
3 cups plain Balkan yogurt, drained to yield 300g
200g sour cream
2 tsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 tbsp garlic, finely chopped
90g English cucumber, grated, drained
1 tsp salt
1 tsp canola oil or vegetable oil - do not use olive oil


Pour the yogurt into a clean cloth, tie into a ball and hang in the refrigerator over a bowl to catch the drippings. Let set overnight.
The next day, open the cloth and put the thick yogurt in a bowl.
Put a grater onto the same cloth and grate the cucumber over it (use fine section of the grater). Squeeze over a bowl to extract any water. Discard the water and add dry grated cucumber to the yogurt. Add the remaining ingredients. Mix well and refrigerate.

Happy cooking!