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Cacik
Found in: Turkish words and phrases
Cacik is a Turkish dish of seasoned, diluted yoghurt, eaten throughout the former Ottoman world. In Greece it is called tzatziki. It is served cold in very small bowls usually as a side dish or with ice cubes.
Cacik is made of yogurt, salt, olive oil, crushed garlic, chopped cucumber, dill, mint, and lime juice, diluted with water to a low consistency, and garnished with sumac. Among these ingredients, olive oil, lime juice, and sumac are optional. Dill and mint (fresh or dried) may be used alternately. Cacik, when consumed as a meze, is prepared without water but follows the same recipe. Ground paprika may also be added when it is prepared as a meze. As a rarer recipe, when prepared with lettuce or carrots instead of cucumber, it is named ki cacigi (winter cacik).
A similar side dish prepared in India is known as raita. Particularly popular in the state of Maharashtra, it is prepared with cucumbers, onions, tomatoes and quite often, grated carrots. Unlike other versions, lime juice is not used in raita. Further differences in the Indian dish include heated oil, mustard seeds and asafoetida and a tadka is given to the consistency of yoghurt and the other vegetables.
Trivia
Cacik is mentioned in the The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook.
See also
Ayran
Raita
Tarator
Tzatziki
External links
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Cacik