Greek tzatziki made with thick yogurt, squeezed cucumber, and garlic. Borage microgreens taste like fresh cucumber but add no water, so the sauce stays thick.
INGREDIENTS
- 250 g - English cucumber
- 1/2 tsp - salt
- 400 g - whole-milk Greek yogurt
- 1-2 cloves - garlic
- 1 tbsp - lemon juice
- 1 tbsp - olive oil
- 20 g - borage microgreens
STEPS
- Grate the cucumber, skin and all, on the large holes of a box grater, salt it, stir, and let it sit in a strainer for 10 minutes.
- Squeeze the cucumber hard in your fist or in cheesecloth.
- Grate the garlic on a fine grater. Mix the yogurt, cucumber, garlic, and lemon juice.
- Finely chop half the borage microgreens and stir them into the sauce. Taste and add salt.
- Chill for at least 30 minutes. Before serving, drizzle with the olive oil and top with the rest of the microgreens.
Borage Microgreens in Tzatziki
Tzatziki is a Greek sauce of thick yogurt, cucumber, and garlic. The usual trouble with homemade tzatziki is that the cucumber weeps and the sauce turns runny. Borage microgreens taste exactly like fresh cucumber but carry no water. They boost the cucumber flavor while the sauce stays thick.
Finely chop half the microgreens and stir them into the sauce; put the other half on top whole.
About the Ingredients
Borage microgreens: 20 g for six servings. The leaves are covered in soft hairs that you won’t notice once chopped.
Yogurt: full-fat Greek yogurt. Regular plain yogurt needs to drain in cheesecloth for 2-3 hours first.
Cucumber: an English cucumber, with thin skin and small seeds.
Garlic: 1-2 cloves. Its flavor gets stronger after an hour in the fridge, so go easy.
Technique: Squeeze the Cucumber
Grate the cucumber, skin and all, on the large holes of a box grater, salt it, and let it sit in a strainer for 10 minutes. Then squeeze it hard in your fist or in cheesecloth. 250 g of cucumber gives up to 100 ml of juice that would otherwise end up in the sauce. Drink the juice or add it to a smoothie.
Variations
- With dill: 1 tbsp finely chopped dill along with the microgreens.
- With mint: 5-6 mint leaves in place of some of the borage.
- With wine vinegar: 1 tsp red wine vinegar instead of lemon juice, the way it’s often made in Greece.
- Lighter: 2% Greek yogurt drained in cheesecloth overnight.
Serving and Storage
Serve with pita, gyros, grilled meat, fried fish, or roasted potatoes. Tzatziki keeps in the fridge for 3 days; a little whey may rise to the top, so just stir it back in. How long an open container of microgreens lasts is in our wiki: microgreen shelf life.
Another yogurt sauce with microgreens: Green Goddess dressing with dill microgreens.
CHEF'S TIPS
Tzatziki that has rested for an hour tastes better than freshly mixed: the garlic and cucumber have time to flavor the yogurt.
If the sauce still comes out thin, drain it in cheesecloth in the fridge for 1 hour.
