For ➋2 cucumbers
½ ts salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbs lemon juice
20 cl yogurt
½ tbs finely chopped dill
10 cl sesame or olive oil
2 ts chopped mint
Peel the cucumbers, cut in quarters lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, then slice thin. Sprinkle with the salt and let stand for 15 m. Drain well.
Stir together the garlic, lemon juice, yogurt, and dill. Mix with the cucumbers.
Pour the oil over the top and sprinkle with the mint.
This is adapted from the Arabian jalik soup. Similar recipes are known all over the Middle East and as 'tzaziki' in Greece. It is called 'maast-o-khiar' in Iran.
Read the maast-o-khiar recipe, or make a version with other amounts of the ingredients above: drain the yogurt in cheese-cloth in a colander for 1 h, mix with some mint, use 1 cucumber, to make a dip sauce for pita bread or serve it as a cold salad, on its own or with cold lamb chops.
Read more cucumber soup recipes: cold cucumber soup with crab, Spanish white gazpacho.
