Tzatziki

Ok, so here comes the first in a series of Greek specialities inspired by our holidays in Santorini at the beginning of the month. It's the classic of classics: Tzatziki, a creamy yoghurt and cucmber dip. I imagine that every family in Greece have their own recipe so I'm not pretending that this is the ultimate version, though it is pretty darn good. Serve it as a starter with some bread for dipping or as a side dish/sauce for meat, chicken or fish.

Ingredients:
3 dl natural Greek youghurt
2 dl shredded cucumber
1 tsp salt
1-3 gloves of garlic (depends how strong you want it)
2 tsp fresh, chopped mint or 1 tsp dry mint
1-2 tbsp olive oil
freshly ground pepper to taste

Lots of the yoghurt sold as Greek yoghurt is in fact still very thin. The original Greek yoghurt we had on our trip was rather thick almost like a spread cheese. So you might want to drain out some of that excess liquid by putting the yoghurt in a clean cloth, wrap a rubberband around it and stick a chop stick through it and hang it over a container. Leave it for about 1-2 hours. Then scrape it out into a bowl.

Shred the cucumber. Some people swear that real tzatziki is made with finely cut cucumbers. It's up to you and how much time you have.

Add some salt to the cucumber. Leave it hanging in a cloth for a few minutes for the liquid to drip out.

Chop the garlic very finely. Squeeze it with the side of the knife blade. Chop it again until it's very fine.

Chop or crush the mint if it's dry like mine. Add to yoghurt.

Add the olive oil and some freshly ground pepper.

Squeeze out some more liquid from the cucumber and mix it into the yoghurt.

And it's ready to eat. Well, actually it will get better with time so leave covered it in the fridge. It will last up to a week.