Tatziki-ish cucumber salad

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This is a version of a cucumber salad that my grandmother used to make when I was a kid. It’s almost a tatziki, except it uses sour cream instead of Greek yogurt and you don’t have to cut or grate the cucumber so finely. In this version you can just thinly slice or dice the cucumber to your desired size.

Ingredients

  • 1 cucumber

  • 1/2 tsp salt (or more to taste)

  • 1/4 cup sour cream (or vegan alternative. I use Follow Your Heart)

  • 1 Tbsp olive oil

  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice

  • 1 clove garlic, minced

  • Lots of freshly ground pepper (to taste)

Method

  1. Thinly slice the cucumber into rounds, or dice it into small cubes (1/4 inch or less), whichever is your preference.

  2. Add the cucumber and the salt to a bowl and mix well, then leave to stand for 10 minutes. During this time water will start to be drawn out of the cucumber by the salt and then you can drain it off before adding the other ingredients

  3. Once you have drained the cucumber, whisk in the sour cream, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, minced garlic and pepper.

More water will come out of the cucumber while its chilling in the fridge, but this salad is not supposed to stay a thick dip like tatziki. The sour cream and other ingredients are just supposed to be a dressing, so when you’re ready to eat the dish, just whisk it all together again to make sure everything is properly combined and it won’t matter if the dressing has thinned out a bit. This makes a nice side with the potato salad that is the previous recipe in this blog and also small amounts are good in sandwiches, wraps, or with cooked meats, etc.

 
Andrew Williamson