haydari: (pron: high-dar-ree)
Don’t you just love that moment at the beginning of an evening out when you’re feeling mellow with a glass of rakı in your hand and that tray of meze comes round and you’re sitting outside by the Bosphorus with the sun setting on the water?
the iconic Bosphorus looking towards the old city from the Asian side
It’s sometimes a bit difficult to choose your requisite 4 or 5 little starters as you may not be sure what exactly everything is.
The yogurt- based ones all look very similar and when you have all of them on your plate and are tucking in with a slice of fresh crusty bread, it’s hard to differentiate because inevitably they all have garlic. I think they all taste divine but then I love garlic!
haydari before sprinkling the sweet red pepper
I love it because it’s made with fresh herbs: you can use either just mint or dill, or as I do, a combination of the two.
Dried mint is not a bad alternative. Ideally, the yogurt is thick and strained. In Turkey it’s easy as it’s readily available as süzme yoğurt.
delicious thick süzme yoğurt
- Combine all the ingredients apart from the garnish and red pepper in a bowl and mix well.
- Refrigerate until required. The tastes will blend together beautifully.
- Serve in a shallow dish and drizzle with a little olive oil.
- Decorate with a sprig of fresh mint or dill, and sprinkle with just a little sweet red pepper.
and here you are …
I’ve never in all my years in Turkey had haydari with either of the two options mentioned above but Daughter No 2 says she has had it with feta and liked it very much.
Actually I like the sound of adding walnuts and plan to try it next time. What do you think?
I love haydari. I leave the dill out because I always end up using too much and it can get overpowering. LOADS of garlic though. We're like you and LOVE garlic. 🙂
hi..i just found your blog ad love it! i signed on to follow and am adding you to my sidebar. i adore turkish food!
I would certainly loive to be sitting with a glass of rakin in my hand and enjoying meze with the Bosphorus set out before me:D
Aren't you all sweet? Funny that you find dill potentially overpowering, Julia. I never thought of it like that. but yes to the garlic – every time! Hi October Farm! How nice that you have found my blog! Thanks so much for signing on – I will certainly check out your blog too! Hi Bellini! Yes I think you would just love to be beside the beautiful Bosphorus on a summer's evening ….
hi again! you certainly got me started making turkish food. yesterday i made turkish poached eggs with a paprika sauce served with garlic yogurt. my family loved them! do you know of an other turkish cooking blogs i might like. i would like to learn how to make turkish bread too! thanks so much! joyce
Hi again October Farm! I highly recommend Burcu on http://almostturkish.blogspot.com and Özlem on http://www.ozlemsturkishtable.com.
That's great that you and your family are into Turkish food!
thank you so much for the recommendations! i just found turkish sausage in the store this morning! i am one happy cook!
I love yogurt dips of all kinds and dill too…sounds amazing!
ps…I have been visiting your blog, but for some reason when I try to comment it hasn't been letting me, it just hangs there loading…see if this one goes through. Thanks for popping by to check on me. 🙂