Mom's Tzatziki

This week were pulling a page form my mom's cookbook! I'm gonna be honest with you I don't actually have the recipe for this so I've made it few times to get a grasp of the amounts and I definitely nailed it this time! That being said feel free to play around with the amounts to get your ideal dip! You may want to use more or less garlic or honey, you may want to drain your cucumber for more or less time to change the consistency. You may even want to cut your ingredients differently like mincing or dicing to add to the texture. A food processor is also an option! Have fun and use what you've got.

This recipe reminds me of three things. Summer. Holidays. and afternoon living room picnics. We definitely ate this more often in the warmer months especially as a "dressing" on pasta salad. My mom also makes it for most holiday potlucks. But the fondest memory i have is from a lunch tradition we had when i was much younger. Most Sundays we'd have a picnic in the living room for lunch. Basically it was a less sophisticated charcuterie and homemade tzatziki and hummus often made an appearance.

Enough about me though! Time to get you on track to have your own tzatziki to experiment with as a burger topping, on a wrap or sandwich, pasta salad, a dip with pita? Let me know what ideas you come up with in the comments below!

TZATZIKI

1/2 English cucumber
1 or 2 garlic cloves

1 cup plain Greek yogurt (or drained regular yogurt, see pro tip)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp honey

optional: Dill to taste

Peel and shred your cucumber and garlic into a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth.

** pro tip ** I use a fine cheese grater for the cucumber and a microplane for the garlic but you could do this by hand or with a food processor. Use what you have rather than feeling you need all the fancy gadgets!

Leave this over a bowl to drain for at least an hour, longer if you want it thicker but make sure you find room in your fridge to avoid harmful friends making their home there. to play around with texture you can also drain your yogurt in cheesecloth.

** pro tip ** if you cant find Greek yogurt (or you think your Greek yogurt isn't quite thick enough) you can drain regular yogurt in cheese cloth but be sure to use a few layers or you will end up losing solids too. This is the way my mom used to do it before Greek yogurt was regularly available.

** witchy tip ** you can use this draining process as a way to visualize something being banished and then continue that sentiment when you're stirring everything together by stirring counterclockwise and visualizing that concept leaving. When you set your mush to drain take a second to visualize and say, "As the liquid leaves this mixture so too does ____" just maybe don't keep the liquid for a salad dressing as I suggest below.

Remove the liquid from your bowl or use a new bowl to mix your drained veg and the rest of your ingredients.

** pro tip ** keep the cucumber/ garlic liquid and use it in a salad dressing, I tried it for the first time last night and it was great! If you want to see how I did that check out my other social medias for quick instructions!



Its done! As with many things this recipe tastes good right away but tastes WAY better if you let it sit for a day and allow to flavours to develop and mingle.

Quick simple recipe today! I hope you can find a special way to incorporate this delicious, fresh dip into your next meal!

Now for some correspondences!

Cucumber

Feminine
Water,
Venus, Moon

Beauty (inside and out), youth, healing, fertility

Honey

Female
Venus and sun
Balanced with slight pull to fire

The biggest reason to use honey is as a sweetener. to sweeten the views of others toward the thing you are trying to manifest or you yourself. It can even be used in self care to sweeten your own vision of yourself.

Garlic

Masculine
Fire
Mars

exorcism, spell-breaking, invoking passion, protection and strength

There are few ways to lean on the magickal side of this recipe. You could lean into the protective nature of garlic, the balancing and lifting action of honey or the beauty or fertility of cucumber.

If you're looking for a time or reason that all of these ingredients could come together the narrative I come up with is a couple that have been trying to conceive but they are starting to lose their passion and forgetting the joy of what they're working toward. The garlic is to protect them from outside influences and pressures, the honey sweetens them to each other and returns the passion and the cucumber brings luck to the actual "problem" at hand of fertility.

Let me know in the comments below what intentions you're adding to your tzatziki today!

The Short and Gritty

Ingredients:

1/2 English cucumber
1 or 2 garlic cloves

1 cup plain Greek yogurt (or drained regular yogurt, see pro tip)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp honey

Optional: Dill to taste

Directions:

1. Shred cucumber and garlic and let drain in fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth for at least an hour

2. Remove liquid

3. Mix drained veg with remaining ingredients

4. Best if made the day before