It can be served as a side dish or as a light, reviving main meal.
Isn't it just perfect?
The version I'm going to share with you now is the one that is common in Macedonia and Serbia. It's practically the basic tarator salad, which is upgraded with various ingredients in some countries. For example, in Bulgaria it is a soup, rather than salad, as water is being added along with walnuts, some herbs, oil and vinegar. As you can see from the photo above, tarator looks quite as much as the Greek Tzatziki, and it's almost the same, with tzatziki being far more seasoned.
Somewhere it is served as salad, somewhere as a cold soup, and someplace it is a dip or a sauce... Whichever way of preparation and serving you choose, keep in mind that it should be eaten with a spoon and not with a fork! :)
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And here's what you'll need to make a tarator salad:
Note that cucumber and yogurt should be well chilled before using, so that you can serve the salad right away. |
- Peel the cucumber and cut it into small dices (approx. 1x1cm). Mince garlic cloves. If using green garlic, just slice it (use white and light green parts only).
- In a bowl, combine cucumber and garlic and season with some salt and pepper to taste. Gradually add yogurt, a spoonful at a time, until you get the desired thickness. You may need more or less yogurt than listed.
Doctor the taste with some more salt if necessary.
Serve chilled, right away.
As I mentioned above, ingredients should be chilled before mixing, so that you can serve the salad right away. I would not recommend you keeping the salad for too long afterwards, as cucumbers release quite a lot of liquid.