I love Tzatziki! I pair it with lamb, grilled chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, vegetables, fish, or just eat it by itself; as the little old lady says in that great marketing commercial for hot sauce, “I put that sh*t on everything.” The problem is, I just can’t pronounce it to save my life. I would tell my husband I was making tzatziki, and he would always say, “I’m sorry, what was that?” “Tzat…zi…ki,” I would say. “What did you call it?”, he would tease. As I would stand there trying harder and harder to pronounce the word, the more I butchered it. My inability to pronounce said word, morphed into a playful nickname for the dish – Suzuki Sauce. Perhaps my husband thought I’d have an easier time pronouncing a Japanese word, given my background.
- 2 large garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 2 cups Greek style yogurt
- 1 teaspoon tahini (mix well before using)
- 2 tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped
- ½ lemon, juiced
- 1½ cups English cucumber, seeded and diced
- Use a mortar and pestle to mash the garlic and salt together until it forms a paste. If you do not have a mortar and pestle start by finely mincing the garlic. Sprinkle the garlic with salt and then tilt the blade so that it forms a shallow angle with the cutting board. Scrape the knife across the garlic repeatedly, until it forms a paste.
- In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, tahini, mint, and lemon. Add the garlic and salt mixture and combine well. Add the cucumber to the yogurt mixture just before serving. Enjoy!
I never thought of putting tahini in tzatziki! Your recipe looks delicious. I put mint in mine as well, but not the lemon. I’m going to try your variation.