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Cucumber Yogurt Salad

Posted by Elise on Jul 23, 2006

Filed under Gluten-Free, Low Carb, Quick, Salad, Seasonal Favorites: Summer, Side Dish, Vegetable, Vegetarian

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We eat a lot of hot and spicy dishes around here; a great way to cool the palate is with the delicious combination of yogurt and cucumber. This easy-to-make cucumber salad, also called "tzatziki", is a refreshing accompaniment to spicy dishes such as chili beans, enchiladas, and Indian food.

Cucumber Yogurt Salad Recipe

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Ingredients

2 cucumbers, peeled, quartered lengthwise, then sliced
Plain yogurt, about 1 cup
1 teaspoon dried dill, or a couple of teaspoons of fresh dill
Sprinkling of salt and pepper

Method

First taste the cucumbers to make sure that they are not bitter. Depending on the variety of cucumber you are using, and many other factors, you may find a cucumber that is distinctly bitter in taste. If this happens, soak the cucumber slices in salted water for half an hour, or longer, until the bitterness is reduced, then rinse and drain before using.

To make the salad, simply gently mix together the ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4.

Indexed: Cucumber, Cucumber Salad, Salad, Tzatziki, Yogurt

30 Comments

Oooh, that looks so refreshing and tasty!

Posted by: Pink Sun Drops on September 5, 2004 6:19 PM

Well actually I meant *sounds* but it looks pretty darn good, too!

Posted by: Pink Sun Drops on September 5, 2004 6:20 PM

Don't you leave the cucumber in salty water for a while in order to make then less bitter ? maybe your cucumbers are not like those we have here . Anyway , you can also try to substitute the dill for toasted cumin seeds ... if you like cumin .

Posted by: Joao Pedro on September 6, 2004 6:32 AM

Pink - it is refreshing!

Joao - hmm, our cucumbers are quite mild, not usually needing to be soaked beforehand. Thanks for the cumin seed suggestion!

Posted by: elise on September 7, 2004 6:33 PM

What a nice, simple recipe. Some of the best things are often dead simple. This is nice with FRESH MINT added, or if you want to combine cool & fresh with a bit of a BITE try adding a couple of crushed up dried red chilli's.

Posted by: Chris on September 8, 2004 10:08 AM

I make a variation of this on a regular basis, only i grade the cucumbers and add finelly minced garlic. So good!

Posted by: Serena on March 28, 2005 11:07 AM

So I love cucumbers and hate yogurt, but I am always up for trying something new, ESPECIALLY if it's easy. I made this for lunch today, and I must say that i was pleasantly surprised at the taste! though I can say that the taste won't be for everyone in my family, it's a great alternative to my usual cukes marinated in italian dressing...Thanks, Elise! --T

Posted by: tdove on October 17, 2005 7:00 PM

I'm from macedonia and we usualy put also finely chopped garlick and even crushed nuts in the salad. Try it it is wonderful...

Posted by: igor on December 25, 2005 4:02 AM

Raita is all well and good, but if the food is truly spicy, there's no substitute for masses of good, plain yoghurt.

Posted by: ben on July 23, 2006 7:59 PM

Add a tablespoon or so of cider vinegar for a lovely tang!

~Vivian

Posted by: Vivian on July 23, 2006 9:12 PM

If we don't have fresh or dried Dill...we love to raid the Dill Pickle jar for dill and about a Tablespoon of Dill juice. When desperate, we pull out the Green Olives, chop a few up and add some Olive juice. We have added finely chopped green onions or leftover radishes
and a few drops of Tabasco! These combinations are an excellent side-dish with fish, meat or chicken, Takes only about 5 minutes.

Posted by: Carol on July 24, 2006 4:08 AM

I often like a bit of very thinly sliced red onion and some crushed garlic in such a salad. Yum!

Posted by: Mary on July 24, 2006 5:27 AM

I make a dish handed down from grandmother to mother to me using cucumbers, sour cream and white vinegar with salt and pepper to taste. It too is very refreshing and a great side dish

Posted by: Renee on July 24, 2006 5:37 AM

How different is this to tzatziki? Mmm, lemon!

Posted by: sharon on July 24, 2006 12:33 PM

I tried this and yum! It was great.

Posted by: Jaspenelle on July 24, 2006 1:52 PM

My family has alsway made this with garlic (or garlic salt to be less intense) mint and sour cream. It is one of my favorite summertime dishes --I just had it last night.

Posted by: sarah on July 24, 2006 1:54 PM

Cool as Cucumber!

Thank you for the reminder. I have two out of the three ingredients. Maybe for something odd I'll chuck in some galia melon slices.

The heat has taken my brain away. Thank god for the breeze today, even though it feels like I'm a meringue in a convection oven.

Posted by: shuna fish lydon on July 24, 2006 5:22 PM

My father and I believe this quote says it all: "Cucumbers are best served thinly sliced, tossed with a bit of oil and vinegar, and thrown in the trash." (sic) We can't stand 'em, but I sold this salad many times when catering.

Posted by: Cary on July 25, 2006 9:23 AM

This would also go well with the addition of golden raisins and walnuts! Beautiful picture, by the way!

Posted by: Catherine on July 25, 2006 8:14 PM

I tried this last night. It was so good. I love recipes like this that are so simple but taste and look more complicated.

Posted by: Kari on July 27, 2006 11:02 AM

This was a perfect compliment to salmon with dill!

Posted by: Pamela Ellman on July 30, 2006 6:25 PM

Elise

I recently discovered 'Tarator' a cold bulgarian soup with cucumbers and yogurt while writing a post on cold soups.
Here is the link
http://www.sergetheconcierge.com/2006/07/cant_stand_the_.html

Have a good week-end

Serge

Posted by: Serge Lescouarnec on August 5, 2006 11:24 AM

How long can this keep before it gets soggy? Could I make it the night before to eat for lunch?
Thanks!

Posted by: charlene on November 29, 2006 10:17 AM

My aunt makes the best cucumber salad. she adds some sour cream to the yogurt mixture to cut the tartness. It is very delicious.

Posted by: steph on May 23, 2007 11:15 AM

This is very similar to a typical Estonian cucumber salad, the only difference being that we only use sour cream and never yogurt. Very popular during summer!! (It's fun going through your archives:)

Posted by: Pille on June 29, 2008 8:49 AM

Looks really good. try taking about 1.25-1.5 C of the yogurt, put it in a tea towel and hang it over a bowl in the fridge over night. the water in the yogurt comes out giving you a tangier, thicker yogurt. then mix it with the cucumber, dill and s and p.

Posted by: Quasimorte on March 2, 2009 10:24 AM

Great recipe. Made this in 5 minutes. A dash of white rice vinegar made the dish pop and a squeeze of lime as well.

Posted by: Bris on March 4, 2009 10:35 PM

I can't wait to try this. I'm going to serve it with pita slices tomorrow!

Posted by: ZDubb on April 29, 2009 11:56 AM

All sounds so good, like the taste of summer. Makes me feel like a child again. Has anyone made their salads with mayo? 1-2 cukes, you scrape the seeds, add 2-3T balsamic vinegar, and mayo just to coat. What a treat. Enjoy. Salt to taste of course. Enjoy your summer.

I make a mayo balsamic dip for artichokes which I really love, I could see something similar with cucumbers. ~Elise

Posted by: PATTY on August 2, 2009 10:42 AM

So, I accidentally bought the vanilla yogurt(it was in the wrong section lol) and I put it all together regardless, and it tasted pretty good actually. It was sweet, and then I put some salt in it and pepper to counteract the vanilla, and it was so good. It was interesting. I might make it with vanilla from now on haha.
Thanks for posting this though, wonderful once again.

Hah! I've made that mistake before, made a beef stroganoff with vanilla yogurt. It was sweet, but it worked. The kids for whom I was cooking scarfed it up. ~Elise

Posted by: stephanie on September 6, 2009 6:45 PM

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Cucumber Yogurt Salad

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Cucumber Yogurt Salad Recipe