Cucumber and Yogurt Salad

[Twitchin Kitten]

and most of the rest of the Middle East

This salad is always in my refridgerator. It's wonderful, light and great as a side to any bbq meal in the summer months.

Cucumber and yogurt salad

Ingredients:
1 or 2 seedless (english) cucumbers
1 small clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon mint, fresh or dried, fresh preferred chopped fine
1 large container plain Greek yogurt. Don't use that non fat junk!

Peel cukes and slice into half 'moon' shapes
Place them in a strainer and sprinkle with 2 Tablespoons salt to make the water drain out, about an hour or so.
Rinse off the salt and pat dry.

Crush the garlic, chop the mint and place in a bowl with about 1/2 the yougurt. Stir well to get all the flavors in!
Toss in the cukes and mix with the yogurt. Add enough yogurt to cover & mix well.
Cover the bowl.
Place in the 'fridge and let cool for a couple of hours.
Serve with any dish.

Variations: beat 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1 tbsp vinegar and 2 Tbsp chopped dillinto the yogurt.

For a cold soup, use regular, not strained yogurt and chop or grate the cucumber instead of slicing it.

A nice alternative is to use a mixture of sour cream and yogurt in equal amounts.

The Persian version, (which is nice and fragrant and called mast-o khiar) mixes in 3 - 4 Tbsp raisins and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Garnish with a few chopped or grated radishes and dried rose petals.

You can also make a nice dip using 1/2 and 1/2 yogurt and sour cream (use the Greek yogurt) and chopped dill. Serve this with pita chips.

EDIT - 6/25/10: I just made my first food video! I've appended this along with the variations to this post. I think I did pretty good with only one blooper in there!

http://twitchinkitchen.com/videos/CYsalad2.flv