Many years have passed since I first visited Greece. I remember when I first set foot on the island of Mykonos for a few hours thanks to a cruise trip organized by my family and tasted the “gyros kebab” bought among the narrow streets of the small town. This particular street food was basically a kind of bread roll (pita) filled with meat, potatoes, onion, and tomato, garnished with plenty of tzatziki sauce. I confess, it was love at first taste!
A few years later I returned to Greece on another island, specifically Santorini, and this time I went with my then-girlfriend, who later became my wife, and there I enjoyed a long week of vacation spent in total relaxation, which allowed me to savor other Greek dishes more calmly and frequently, and of course, tzatziki sauce, present as a side in numerous preparations.
Back in Italy, I immediately looked for the recipe to reproduce it at home as faithfully as possible to the original. In this recipe, I simply propose the steps to make a very fresh and healthy Mediterranean sauce. You really need very little, a cucumber, olive oil, Greek yogurt, lemon juice, a pinch of salt, garlic, and some dill.
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Greek
Ingredients
To prepare your Greek tzatziki sauce
- 1 cucumber
- 1 clove garlic
- to taste salt
- 1/2 lemon
- 10.6 oz Greek yogurt
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste dill
Tools
- Chopper
- Peeler
Steps
To make your Greek tzatziki sauce
First of all, peel the cucumber, removing the outer skin
Next, cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and remove the seeds using a spoon
After removing the seeds, cut the two halves of the cucumber into pieces and place them in a chopper along with the garlic clove
At this point, proceed to finely chop the cucumber and, when finished, place it in a strainer
Continue by pressing the pulp against the strainer with a silicone spatula to remove as much liquid as possible
Proceed by placing the pulp in a bowl and adding a pinch of salt, the juice of half a lemon, Greek yogurt, and olive oil
To finish, mix everything together well, taste your sauce, and adjust the salt and lemon according to your taste
Finally, add some dill, mix it all up, and garnish the top with a few pitted black olives before serving
Tip!
If you can’t find dill, you can also use the sprouts of a fennel, washed and dried. Tzatziki sauce is eaten cold and can be stored in the fridge for 2 days. It’s excellent for accompanying white meats or kebab.
