Cacık (yoghurt and cucumber dip)

Cacık is a refreshing Turkish yoghurt dish that is often served as part of a meze (appetizer), as a side dish, or enjoyed on its own with bread for dipping. Pronounced 'jah-juk', it's simple to make and combines creamy yoghurt with grated or chopped cucumber, garlic, dried mint and a drizzle of olive oil.

With the cooling flavours of cucumber and mint, it is usually served in the summer, but can be eaten year round. You can coarsely grate the cucumber or finely slice it depending on the texture you like. If you do grate the cucumber, you may need to strain the juices.

Turkish cacık is traditionally made using natural yoghurt which gives a thinner texture and slightly tangy flavour. However, strained yoghurt can be used if you prefer it thick and creamy.

Garlic is a key ingredient and you can add more or less depending on how strong you want this flavour to feature - we suggest 1-2 cloves. We finely chop the garlic in this recipe for a lighter hint, but you can crush it for a stronger infusion throughout the dish.

Greek Tzatziki is very similar to cacık, but is traditionally made with strained Greek yoghurt for a creamy consistency and may feature dill instead of mint. You can adapt this recipe and experiment with different herbs and flavours.

Serving cacık with a generous drizzle of high quality virgin olive oil adds a rich earthy tone that balances the fresh flavours. You can also leave out the cucumber to make sarımsaklı yoğurt (garlic yoghurt) which goes perfectly with tomato based oven dishes.

Serves 4 as a side | Preparation time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

​250g strained or natural yoghurt	​½ tsp dried mint
​1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped	​⅛ tsp salt, or as desired
​50g cucumber, coarsely grated or finely sliced	​Extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle (optional)

Method

1. If you want to slice the cucumber, firstly slice it into quarters lengthwise. Then, slice these quarters into 1mm-thick pieces.

   
   

2. Mix the cucumber with the remaining ingredients well, before serving. You can add 1 or 2 cloves of garlic depending on your preference. You can also drizzle some olive oil on top to serve, but this is optional.