Tzatziki is a sauce served with grilled meats or as a dip. Tzatziki is made of salted strained yogurt (usually from sheep or goat milk) or diluted yogurt mixed with cucumbers, garlic, salt, olive oil, sometimes with vinegar or lemon juice, and some herbs like dill, mint, parsley, thyme etc. It is generally served as a cold meze.
Video Tzatziki
Etymology
The Greek word tzatziki (????????) comes from the Turkish word cac?k. According to Olga Razuvajeva, the word comes from the Armenian cac?g.
The root cac is likely related to several words in Western Asian languages. Persian zhazh (???) refers to various herbs used for cooking. Evliya Çelebi's 17th-century Seyâhatnâme travelogue defined cac?? (cac?g) as a kind of herb. Ahmet Vefik Pasha's 1876 Ottoman Turkish dictionary defined cac?k as an herb salad with yogurt. This remains the most common definition today.
Maps Tzatziki
Variations
Greece
Greek-style tzatziki sauce is served with grilled meats or may be served as a mezze alongside other mezzes, dishes and ouzo. Tzatziki is made of strained yogurt (usually from sheep or goat milk) mixed with cucumbers, garlic, salt, olive oil, and sometimes lemon juice, and dill or mint or parsley. Some variations are made with cattails or purslane, tofu, dill, and seasoned with Vege-sal and either whole allspice or spicebush berries.
Purslane is called glistrida in Greek and this may be called glistrida me yiaourti meaning "purslane and yogurt salad" rather than tzatziki. One simple recipe calls for purslane, olive oil, red wine vinegar and dill. Another is made with purslane, mint, cilantro, parsley and ground coriander, along with the standard yogurt-cucumber base.
Turkey
Turkish cac?k is made by combining a bit of water and yogurt in a deep bowl together with garlic and different combinations of fresh vegetables and herbs. The amount of water used depends on how thick the cook wants the cac?k to be--sometimes the dish is served as a cold soup, but it can also be made thicker according to taste. Labneh may be substituted for some of the yogurt. Garlic is crushed in a mortar and pestle together with salt and the cucumbers are either chopped or grated. The crushed garlic, yogurt and cucumber are combined thoroughly before the dish is garnished with some combination of aleppo pepper, paprika, sumac or mint. It is especially popular during summer months and may optionally be served with ice.
When shredded carrots are added along with the cucumber it is called havuçlu cac?k. In Turkey tarator is also called balkan cac??? and is made with fresh scallions and mint. Other cac?k varieties may include shredded radish or chopped red pepper and fresh parsley. Dill can optionally be added as well. Some recipes add fresh basil or a tablespoon of vinegar. One version with basil is made with made with ground walnuts, hazelnuts and chopped fresh basil.
Not all cac?ks are made with shredded cucumber--sometimes various types of leafy greens or herbs are used in combination with other ingredients. For exmaple, one version calls for boiled wheat berry (the same kind used to make Noah's Pudding) and fresh dill. It can also be made into a type of salad with purslane. Sometimes it is made with unripe (green) almonds called ca?la in Turkish. It may be also made from wild edible plants like ç?tl?k and eaten in a wrap called dürüm.
For cac?kl? arap köftesi, kofta made from a mix of bulgur and ground meat is served over cac?k. In this case the cac?k is made with chard rather than the usual cucumber. (Spinach or parsley may be substituted for the chard. Some recipes use purslane.) Bulgurlu mad?mak cac??? is made with cracked wheat, cucumber and a type of knotweed called mad?mak.
Balkans
There are dishes similar to cac?k called tarator in many Balkan countries.
In Bulgarian cuisine and Serbian cuisine, the same dish is known as "dry tarator" (Bulgarian: ??? ???????, Macedonian: ??? ???????, Serbian: ??? ???????), or as "Snezhanka" salad (?????? "????????"), which means "Snow white salad", and is served as an appetizer. During preparation, the yoghurt is hung for several hours in a kerchief and loses about half of its water . The cucumbers, garlic, minced walnuts, salt and vegetable oil are then added.
In Bulgaria, Tarator is a popular meze (appetizer), but also served as a side dish along with Shopska salad with most meals. Sunflower and olive oil are more commonly used, and walnut is sometimes omitted. Tarator is seasoned with garlic and dill, both of which can be omitted if so desired. It's a popular dish in Bulgaria and a common refresher during the summer.
Tarator is a popular salad and dip in Serbia rather than a soup; it is also known as "tarator salata". It is made with yogurt, sliced cucumber and diced garlic, and served cold.
In Albania, Tarator is a very popular dish in summer time. It is usually served cold and is normally made from yoghurt, garlic, parsley, cucumber, salt and olive oil. Fried squids are often offered with Tarator.
Cyprus
In Cyprus, the dish is known as talattouri (cf. tarator), and recipes often include less garlic and includes the herb mint, unlike the version used in Greece.
Middle East
Similar dishes in Iraq are known as jajeek. They are normally served as meze to accompany alcoholic drinks, especially Arak, an Ouzo-like drink made from dates.
A similar dish is made in Iran, called mast-o-khiar literally meaning yogurt with cucumber. It is made using a thicker yogurt, which is mixed with sliced cucumber, and mint or dill (sometimes chopped nuts and raisins are also added as a garnish).
Similar dishes
A variation in the Caucasus mountains, called ovdukh, uses kefir instead of the yogurt. This can be poured over a mixture of vegetables, eggs and ham to create a variation of okroshka, sometimes referred to as a 'Caucasus okroshka'. Mizeria is another variation from Poland, using the same ingredients but substituting sour cream for yogurt.
In South Asia a similar dish is made with yoghurt, cucumber, salt and ground cumin (sometimes also including onions) called raita.
See also
- List of dips
- List of hors d'oeuvre
- List of yogurt-based dishes and beverages
- List of dairy products
- Milk salad
- Tarator
- Qatiq
- Raita
- Cold borscht
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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