Jajik , or yogurt with cucumbers and herbs, is yet another Turkish favorite made with yogurt. The creamy, but light and slightly tangy flavour of Jajik goes well with the typical flavours of Turkish cuisine before or during the meal in place of a salad. And let’s be honest: What’s better than some cooling yogurt alongside dinner in the heat of the summer?
Introduction to Jajik
Jajik is a traditional Turkish dish that originated from the tarator dishes during the Ottoman empire which made it famous in Balkan and the middle east. Jajik is a cucumber and Yogurt based meze or side dish. It’s usually flavoured with garlic, salt, olive oil, chopped cucumber, mint, dill, and lime juice and it is served cold in small bowls usually as a side dish or with ice cubes. Among those ingredients, olive oil, lime juice, and sumac are optional. Dill and mint may be used alternately. As a rarer recipe, when prepared with lettuce or carrots instead of cucumber, it is named kış cacığı.Jajik has existed since the early 16th century! At that time, Jajik was likely heavier than most modern versions. The proper spelling of Jajik in turkey is Jajik. here, I is dotless. In the Turkish alphabet, it is a separate letter from the dotted I, and is pronounced like a short (eh) or (uh). So if you want to sound like a Turk, you should pronounce Jajik ‘dzja-dzjək’!
Jajik vs Tzatziki
Because it is in fact two sides of the same coin, as it states Jajik or tzatziki depends on, whether it is respectively Turkish or Greek. Once I thought, that it of course was the Greeks, who had the “copyright” for this dish. When I was “Turk-ified” I obviously have since thought, that it was Turkish and that the difference was, that the Greeks sometimes uses dill (although Turks also can find it), and the Turks rather spend a little dried mint. But it’s apparently not quite as easy as that. It’s all mixed well together, and if you investigate a little, you can find Jajik across the Middle East, just with slight variations. But the word had come from the Armenian “cacig“.
Turkish jajik and Greek tzatziki are likely made with the same ingredients. Tzatziki is a garlicky thick yogurt with grated cucumber. The cucumber is typically squeezed off most of its water, ensuring a thick and spreadable dip. It’s always served as a meze, or as a side dish. But for the Turkish Jajik is usually heavier and the dried mint is powerful in its taste. Furthermore, Jajik is commonly served as a cooling soup dish at the height of summer, either alone or as a side dish to hot food. It can also, however, be served thicker and more similar to tzatziki. Because of this, the cucumber is rarely squeezed off its water like for tzatziki. Indeed, most Turks will simply grate or chop the cucumber and add it as is.
Step by step to make Jajik
Preparing Jajik is simple and contains very simple ingredients, Here is the list of ingredients you need to make Jajik:
Turkish or Greek yogurt,
Cucumbers.
Chopped Garlic,
Salt,
Olive oil,
Dried dill,
Dried mint,
Fresh mint,
And Coldwater.
Mix all of the chopped garlic, yogurt, and dried mint in one bowl. Then add the cucumbers and season the mix with salt. Next, add to the serving bowl the extra virgin olive oil and the fresh mint. If serving as a soup, add water until you reach the desired consistency. Transfer to 4 small bowls, topping with a little extra virgin olive oil and fresh mint, and serve immediately.
Make sure to Serve the Jajik immediately, or on the same day. If it stays in the fridge for too long, the cucumbers will become soggy
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