It’s time for a recipe on this blog, wouldn’t you agree?

One of my favorite side dishes during the summer is called “Tarator”. It may seem similar to the Greek dish known as “Tzatziki”, but I promise you that it is truly Albanian! Bulgarians and Macedonians are also known to make this dish (also considered a ‘cold soup’), so I’ll let them argue over Tarator’s true origins.

It is easy to make and is refreshing in the summer time due to the cool tasting yogurt.

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups of plain yogurt (fat free or light is up to you!)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 medium sized cucumbers, grated
• Salt to taste (1/2 tsp)
• 1 tbs olive oil

Other additions if desired: Dill as a seasoning and walnuts for crunch.

Directions:
Pour the yogurt into a mixing bowl and stir until it is smooth and creamy. Add the minced garlic cloves & shredded/grated cucumbers one at a time and mixing them together. If the dish seems too thick, you can slowly add a half cup or 3/4 cup of water. **In Albania, the yogurt is not as thick as American yogurt, thus to make this dish more “Albanian” add water as desired. Add some salt (1/2 tsp) stirring all the ingredients together. Pour into 2-3 bowls. Pour a dollop (don’t you just love that word?) of olive oil into each bowl to finish, but do not stir it in.

Serves 2-3 persons.

Preparation time is about 10 minutes. Make sure you have some tasty fresh bread to dip into this sensational summer side dish.

Let me know if you try this and what you think!