The Glory of Cacik

Stuff that earns its place in the fridge

First, some housekeeping: many thanks to Mary Panttaja — the first person to earn a reward through referring people to this substack!

More information on that program here…

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But now, Cacik. God I love this stuff. From time to time — including the last few weeks — I go through phases of looking for excuses to make Cacik once a week so there’s some kicking around in the fridge. It lasts three-four days, just gets better, and there’s almost nothing it won’t improve — especially leftovers.

Got a piece of chicken or lamb kicking around? Have some of this on the side. Making a sandwich of pretty much anything? Throw some of this in there. Add some to a salad. Drop a blob of it onto soup. Eat it on toast or crackers or leftover naan or dip it with potato or taco chips. I’ve been known, I’ll confess, to simply eat it with a spoon.

It’s basically the Turkish tzatziki, and bears resemblance to some Indian raitas, too.

Ingredients

The quantities below are vague, for two reasons. The first is I just do it by eye, and the second — obviously — is it depends how much of it you want. This will give you enough as an addition for one meal with some to use over the next couple days.

If you find yourself the whole bowl on the first night or without enough leftovers, just make more next time, obvs.

• Half a cucumber

• One plump garlic clove (see notes)

• Some Greek yoghurt (see notes)

• A few mint leaves (see notes)

• Big pinch of Malden salt, or half level tsp of regular

• Good grind of fresh black pepper

Notes

• The garlic (as you’ll see in a minute) is going in raw. One clove is on the light side (you could try two less-plump ones if you’re convinced you’re going to eat it all on the first night) but it’s enough, and its impact will slowly increase as it sits in the fridge, so don’t go nuts. Experiment.

• The style of yoghurt is important. If you’re in Europe, getting hold of the Greek stuff — with its subtle tang — is easy. In the US, the best bet is Trader Joe’s Greek Yoghurt. Strauss’s and other brands will do in a pinch, but bottom line is you really want something that fancies itself to be Greek-style.

• How much mint you put in is a matter of taste. Often there’s quite a lot, but I like leaning into the cucumber/garlic of it instead. You could add or substitute dill, but I tend not: though dill’s used a lot in Turkish food and thus wholly appropriate (and dill is easily my favorite herb) I only really do that when I want to push the flavor a little Scandi. You can also sub or add a little dried mint, too.

Method

• Cut the end of the cucumber, and halve it end-to end. Grab a spoon and scrape all of the seeds and associated very soft flesh out of the two pieces: you don’t want these because it makes the result watery.

• Dice the cucumber. It’s up to you how small you make the dice, I tend toward about 3mm cubes, but it’s not like I’m using a fucking ruler. You don’t want them too small, basically. Put the result in a decent-sized bowl (because you’ll be stirring all this together later).

• Microplane or finely mince the garlic into there. Don’t merely chop it: you want the flavor to permeate throughout, and you also don’t want the most tender of your guests suddenly confronted with a chunk of raw garlic.

• Chop the mint and/or dill and throw it in.

• Add a good pinch of salt and serious grind of black pepper.

• Add the yoghurt. How much depends on the consistency you prefer: but think of this as a cucumber dish, rather than “yoghurt with a bit of cuke in it”. Start with a half or maybe two thirds of one of those standard 16oz tubs.

• Mix it all together, ensuring everything’s thoroughly mixed and evenly distributed — especially the garlic.

• Put it in the fridge for a while — an hour, or two, however long you’ve got: one of the great things about this is you can make it well before the meal so it’s done, and you can focus on other cooking. Or drinking.

• When you bring it out, give it a stir to refresh and then garnish with a mint leaf and a scant swirl of olive oil if you can be bothered.

And that’s it. Go forth and enjoy, for days…

And what about you? What’s the thing you make on the regular, often upping the quantities because it’s just nice to have around afterward?