Don’t you just love that moment at the beginning of an evening out when you’re feeling mellow with a glass of rakı in your hand and that tray of meze comes round and you’re sitting outside by the Bosphorus with the sun setting on the water?
It’s sometimes a bit difficult to choose your requisite 4 or 5 little starters as you may not be sure what exactly everything is.
The yogurt- based ones all look very similar and when you have all of them on your plate and are tucking in with a slice of fresh crusty bread, it’s hard to differentiate because inevitably they all have garlic. I think they all taste divine but then I love garlic!
I love it because it’s made with fresh herbs: you can use either just mint or dill, or as I do, a combination of the two.
Dried mint is not a bad alternative. Ideally, the yogurt is thick and strained. In Turkey it’s easy as it’s readily available as süzme yoğurt.
- Combine all the ingredients apart from the garnish and red pepper in a bowl and mix well.
- Refrigerate until required. The tastes will blend together beautifully.
- Serve in a shallow dish and drizzle with a little olive oil.
- Decorate with a sprig of fresh mint or dill, and sprinkle with just a little sweet red pepper.
I’ve never in all my years in Turkey had haydari with either of the two options mentioned above but Daughter No 2 says she has had it with feta and liked it very much.
Actually I like the sound of adding walnuts and plan to try it next time. What do you think?
I love haydari. I leave the dill out because I always end up using too much and it can get overpowering. LOADS of garlic though. We're like you and LOVE garlic. 🙂
hi..i just found your blog ad love it! i signed on to follow and am adding you to my sidebar. i adore turkish food!
I would certainly loive to be sitting with a glass of rakin in my hand and enjoying meze with the Bosphorus set out before me:D
Aren't you all sweet? Funny that you find dill potentially overpowering, Julia. I never thought of it like that. but yes to the garlic – every time! Hi October Farm! How nice that you have found my blog! Thanks so much for signing on – I will certainly check out your blog too! Hi Bellini! Yes I think you would just love to be beside the beautiful Bosphorus on a summer's evening ….
hi again! you certainly got me started making turkish food. yesterday i made turkish poached eggs with a paprika sauce served with garlic yogurt. my family loved them! do you know of an other turkish cooking blogs i might like. i would like to learn how to make turkish bread too! thanks so much! joyce
Hi again October Farm! I highly recommend Burcu on http://almostturkish.blogspot.com and Özlem on http://www.ozlemsturkishtable.com.
That's great that you and your family are into Turkish food!
thank you so much for the recommendations! i just found turkish sausage in the store this morning! i am one happy cook!
I love yogurt dips of all kinds and dill too…sounds amazing!
ps…I have been visiting your blog, but for some reason when I try to comment it hasn't been letting me, it just hangs there loading…see if this one goes through. Thanks for popping by to check on me. 🙂