How to Make Greek Tzatziki & Black Olive Dip

During my studies on different cultures, I learned that the Greek made a lot of delicious dishes. The influence that the Greek culture has had on many of the foods that we eat today is pretty amazing. However, there are still many dishes that they eat today that we happen to not really know about. I am going to teach you one of their traditional dishes. You are going to learn how to make Tzatziki & Black Olive Dip. Tzatziki is a Greek dish, made with yogurt, mint and cucumber. The taste combination blends together very will and tastes superb with warm pocket bread.

Tzatziki & Black Olive Dip:

Ingredients:
-1/2 cucumber
-1 cup thick unsweetened yogurt
-1 tbsp chopped mint
-Salt & pepper
-4 pocked breads

Dip Ingredients:
-2 garlic cloves, crushed
-3/4 cup pitted black olives
-4 tbsp olive oil
-2 tbsp lemon juice
-1 tbsp chopped parsley

Garnish Ingredients:
-Mint Sprigs
-Parsley Sprigs

Step One:

The preparation time that is required to make this dish is quite high. You should make sure that you have about an hour to spend around the house while preparing the dish. In order to make the tzatziki, you will need to peel the cucumber you have and chop it very coarsely. The next thing you should do is sprinkle with salt and let it stand for 15-20 minutes. You will then rinse the cucumber with cold water and drain well.

Step Two:

Take your cucumber and mix the cucumber with yogurt and mint. Make sure that you mix the three ingredients together very well. Season the mix to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture to a serving bowl. You will then cover and chill the ingredients for 20-30 minutes. After this, you will be ready to begin making your black olive dip. The dip is very easy to make for this dish.

Step Three:

To make the black olive dip, put the crushed garlic and olives into a blender or food processorand process for 15-20 seconds. Alternatively chop them very finely. Add the olive oil, lemon juice, and parsley to the blender or food processor and process for a few more seconds. Alternatively, mix with the chopped garlic and olives and mash together. Season the mix with salt and pepper.

Step Four:

You will find out that the final step is very easy to do. What you need to do here is to wrap the pocket breads in foil and either place over a barbecue grill for 2-3 minutes, turning once to warm through, or heat in the oven or under the broiler. If you have access to a barbecue grill, I advice you to use that because the breads come out very well. Cut into pieces and serve with the tzatziki and black olive oil dip, garnished with sprigs of fresh mint and parsley. You can now taste a famous Greek dish and enjoy the same experience I received the first time I had it.

One other alternative that you have is quite simple. What you can do is take the dip and use it with any of your favorite types of chips. One of my favorite chips to use are totilla chips. They blend together very nicely with all of the flavors used to create the dip. Enjoy!
Sources:

My own family recipes.