Two food staples, opposite sides of the world. To call these "dips" is really a misnomer, or at the least a significant cultural misconception, because in their perspective countries they are not usually eaten as a dip. Tzatziki is a yogurt based cucumber sauce eaten around the mediterranean and middle east, but it's most well known in Greece. When I was in Greece, and everytime I've had a gyro or souvlaki since, this sauce was served as a side dish with the meat. Like I said, it is not usually a dip. The acidity of the sauce is used to cut the fatiness or to brighten up many dishes. We aren't in Greece though, so I serve this as an appetizer with bread or vegetables and it is delicious.
Tzatziki Sauce
2 cups (16 oz.) of Greek plain yogurt
1 cucumber peeled and grated
3 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
2 tbsp chopped dill
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Salt
Grate the cucumber and place in some paper towels. Squeeze as much liquid out of them as you can. Add everything else and stir it up. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour before you eat. Give it a stir right before serving.
Guacamole is one of my all time favorite things. I love it. I could eat it everyday. Because of this, I've eaten my fair share of guac. Now I don't mean to be immodest but my guac is the best I've ever had, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. The thing is, I don't do anything special. When people ask me what's in my guac, I tell them, and they wonder why mine tastes different from theirs. Everybody uses the same stuff; avacados, lime, onion, cilantro. What's my secret? Salt! I am blown away by the number of people who do not salt things. I put salt in almost everything I make. I even put salt in fruit dishes. I've even heard of people putting salt in their wine. The salt isn't there to be tasted and, if it is used correctly, does not make things taste salty. Salt is a natural flavor enhancer which intensifies all the other flavors in a dish.
My dad asked today, over a bowl of this deliciousness, "why is it called guacamole?" I said it probably means avocado in spanish, but I really had no idea. It turns out it is the Aztec word for "avocado sauce," which I should have known because I know "mole" means sauce. Now I said in the beginning of this post that these aren't usually eaten as dips. This is more true for the tzatziki than the guac, although guac is usually used as a topping for many dishes in Mexican cuisine. The coolness and fattiness of the avocados balances the spice of many mexican dishes in the same way I have described before. This fattiness of the avocados is another reason for using the salt. Avocados are kinda bland on their own and just adding other veggies isn't going to change that much, it needs salt. And lots of lime juice.
Guacamole
4 ripe avocados
2-3 limes (to taste), juiced
1/2 a medium spanish or sweet onion, diced
1 medium tomato, deseeded and diced
1 jalapeno, deseeded and diced
A handful of fresh cilantro (to taste), chopped
Salt and pepper
Cayenne pepper
Open the avocados by cutting around them the long way and then placing in the palm and twisting the top half opposite the bottom. To remove the pit, hold the half in your palm and smack the base of your knife blade into the pit so it sticks (watch your fingers). Twist out the pit. Scoop the flesh out with a spoon into a bowl. Add the lime juice right away because avocados brown very quickly. Add the onion, jalapeno, cilantro, salt, pepper and cayenne and mash it all up with a fork or potato masher. Leave it a little lumpy for textural purposes. Then add the tomato and stir with a spoon. Give it a taste and adjust the lime and salt. I like mine nice and limey. I recommend eating this right away because it really will brown fast. If you can't, put it in an airtight container to try and stop it. Enjoy!
Notes
1. I deseed the tomato because I want to keep as much liquid out of the guac as I can. It already has a bit with the lime juice and you want it thick and creamy, not mushy. To deseed the tomato, cut it in half and scoop out the middle with a spoon.
2. You can use any type of onion for the guac really, but I like the sweet onion the best. I used to use red onion but I had a few that were pretty harsh and I didn't like how they overpowered this avocados.
3. I add everything but the tomato and mush it up because I think it gets all the flavors incorporated. Add the tomato after so it doesn't get squashed and change the color of the guac.
4. Lime juice, like all citrus, slows down the browning of many foods (avocados, bananas, apples). The citurs acid in the juice denatures the proteins which cause oxidation of certain foods.
5. In the tzatziki I use english cucumber (seedless) to cut down on the amount of water. You could do this with a regular cuke by cutting out the seeds.
6. You can use mint instead of dill in the tzatziki if you want. That is more traditional of Cyprus and some of the middle eastern countries. For some reason I just haven't gotten into the whole mint thing. People put mint in a lot of things nowadays, including hearty meat dishes. Maybe I've got to try eating it more, I don't know, but I'm not big into the flavor.
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