Easy homemade tzatziki. A delicious yoghurt based dip

Anyone who grows cucumbers tends to get a bit overwhelmed by the bounty, and how many pickles can one family really eat in a year?

Greek Tzatziki won't really solve your problem, but it is a great way to use at least a couple of those cucumbers!

A good homemade tzatziki is world's better than a commercial variation, and is really quite effortless to make. If you make your own yoghurt, this is a no brainer, but if buying yoghurt, try to find a relatively full fat Greek style yoghurt for the richest possible tzatziki.

Tzatziki recipe

2 cups full fat Greek yoghurt (If you can't find this, use whatever plain yoghurt you've got, and it will still be great!)

2-3 cloves garlic, minced as finely as possible

1 big cucumber, seeds scraped out, and minced

¼ cup fresh mint

½ tsp salt, or more to taste

Let the yoghurt drain for a couple of hours. Place a layer of cheesecloth in a colander, and place the colander in a bowl to collect the liquid. If refrigerated, you can let this drain for as long as 8 hours for the thickest tzatiki

Mix in all other ingredients, and let sit in the fridge ideally for a couple of hours before serving.

Taste for salt, and season again if desired. Before serving, you may want to drizzle a small quantity of a good extra virgin olive oil over the top.

Serve tzatzki as a dip for crudités, with a good crusty bread, with pita slices, or with anything else you can think of. A homemade Tzatziki is fresh and clean, and won’t likely plague with the problem of leftovers!

Great in a pita with any grilled meats for an easy souvlaki styled meal, or alternatively, whip up a batch of falafel for an easy vegetarian meal. If you've never before made falafel, it's a piece of cake, and these crunchy deep fried balls of goodness are universally loved.

I generally make a sneaky black bean version of falafel, as this is what I generally have kicking about.

I use leftover refried beans, lots of fresh chopped mint and cilantro, a couple of cloves of garlic and a bit of minced onion, and a hot chili or two. I add as much flour as needed to get the balls to firm up enough to be able to form balls out of them, and then fry them until they are crispy and browned. Perfect in a pita with fresh vegetables and lots of Tatziki!

This will keep for a couple of days in the fridge, but tends to get garlickier with time, which is not always a bad thing.