Listen to What Elly Says, part 2

As I mentioned, we substituted tzatziki sauce for the 'yogurt sauce' in Elly's lamb meatball dish. I would definitely recommend it (although I'm sure either way is delicious)

At first, I planned to use my Yiayia's recipe... Then I found what I had from her: Plain yogurt; Cucumber, peeled and grated; White wine vinegar; Lemon juice

Not a single measurement... So I found Elly's recipe, very similar and complete with actual measurements, here. I decided to cut this recipe in half, and it was still plenty for us. Again, any modifications to the original are in italics.

Tzatziki:
1 32oz. container of plain yogurt (I used Fage, a fat free Greek yogurt)
2 regular cucumbers, seeded (even though I cut everything else in half, I still used almost 2 cucumbers)
3-5 cloves garlic, crushed (I usually crush with the help of a little salt and extra virgin olive oil)
1-2 tsp white wine vinegar
salt and a little pepper
squeeze of fresh lemon juice (Elly lists this as optional, but I definitely added a hefty squeeze)
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

Strain yogurt using a cheesecloth over a bowl (if you don’t have that, a strainer lined with a coffee filter will work) for several hours or overnight to get out as much moisture as possible. (Fage yogurt is already drained, so I skipped this step. Still think it came out great and not runny at all.)

Peel and seed the cucumber. Shred the cucumbers and then squeeze the life out of them to get rid of as much excess moisture as possible. I use a towel to do this, and you will get a lot of liquid so don’t skip this step! Yes, there is a lot of straining and squeezing–and it’s all important! You don’t want a runny tzatziki.

Mix together the strained yogurt, shredded cucumbers, garlic, vinegar and lemon juice (if desired). Salt to taste. It’s best to refrigerate for 30 minutes or more before serving, so flavors can meld.

Drizzle a little olive oil over the top. (I skipped this step too, since we were warming ours up to top the meatballs with... which by the way was delicious! I'd never had warmed tzatziki before & can't wait to use it in other recipes)

A lot of people put dill or mint in their tzatziki but I have never liked it as much that way. I’m a bit of a purist. My family always made it this way (without the dill/mint) and I much prefer it, but of course add herbs to your liking. (same for me, so we left this out)
{image via elly says opa!}