Yogurt and Cucumbers (Cacik)

While we're on the subject of yogurt, I'll add my recipe for cacik (pronounced JAH-juhk). Some people prefer to have it thicker, thinner, less cucumbers, no skins--it's all a matter of how your mom did it. And since my mom is not Turkish, in Frank Sinatra style, I'm doing it my way! (Though I do longingly remember the summers when we would get fresh cucumbers and mix them with onions and some sort of ranch dressing and vinegar. I LOVED that...maybe that's why I like a "chunkier" cacik.)

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber (remember, the kind from an American grocery store--they are significantly smaller in TR and you can use about 3-4 of them for this recipe), grated--don't drain the juice!
• 3 c plain yogurt
• fistful of fresh dill, chopped (or you can use dried--2-3 Tablespoons)
• little bit less than a fistful of mint, chopped (or you can use dried--2-3 Tablespoons)
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• salt to taste

Yogurt Yolu (ok, I'm making a stupid Turkish alliteration here...yogurt road. I could have said "Cacik Caddesi"--Cacik Avenue, but that's not any funnier...ah well):

• mix everything like a party
• allow to sit for at least an hour or two before serving to allow the flavors to really meet each other and be friends.

Afiyet olsun!