Cacik -- Cold Cucumber Soup

Happy July 4th! In celebration of this year's holiday, I'm going to repost a recipe from last year's July 4th. We're eating a lot of cacik this year. With the heat and fresh cucumbers and garlic, this cold Turkish soup just can't be beat. My kids guzzle this down. I can never make enough.

Ingredients:

• 3 medium cucumbers (400 g)
• 3 cups yogurt (plain, good quality) (770 g)
• 2 cloves garlic (6 g)
• 2 teaspoons sea salt (12 g)
• 1 cup water (250 g)
• 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil (20 g)
• 3-4 sprigs dill (10 g)

Directions:

Combine finely chopped or shredded cucumber with yogurt. Mix thoroughly. Add crushed garlic. Season with sea salt. Dilute with cold water. Mix well.

Pour into individual serving bowls. Sprinkle with olive oil. Garnish with coarsely chopped dill.

Chill and serve.


Cultural Notes:
This soup is a popular way of serving cucumbers and yogurt all over the country. Served with meat dishes, pilafs or boreks. In winter, lettuce or shredded carrot is used instead of cucumbers. dried mint is substituted for dill.

This recipe is from Samples from Turkish Cuisine by Ayse Baysal.