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Haydari – a Minty Yogurt Dip with Garlic

6th July 2011 By Claudia Turgut 8 Comments

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 is a classic meze and no tray would be complete without it. It’s so easy to whip up and goes well with all meat dishes.
I think it’s a good one to try. Dips per se aren’t part of the culture but of course this does make the perfect dip!

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

If you’re keen, you can make your own by straining regular plain yogurt through a muslin cloth but that sounds like a bit of a hassle.
You can also use thick Greek yogurt which I honestly think is fine.
It seems there is another alternative called lebne which is apparently easily obtainable from Middle Eastern food shops. Here in Turkey there is something called labne which is a kind of cream cheese and not the same.
Ingredients
Serves 4
3-4 good tbsp thick strained yogurt/ süzme yoğurt
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 heaped teaspoon dried mint/kuru nane OR 2 tbsp fresh mint/taze nane, finely chopped, with a few leaves to garnish
2 tbsp fresh dill/dereotu, finely chopped
Olive oil to drizzle
Squeeze of lemon juice
A little sweet red pepper to decorate
Salt
2-3 tbsp grated beyaz peynir/feta  (optional)
2 tbsp roughly chopped walnuts (optional)
Method
  • 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?

Anyway, afiyet olsun!

Related

Filed Under: Meze Tagged With: dip, haydari, Olive Oil Dishes and Mezes, yogurt

Previous Post: « Çoban Salatası – Turkish Shepherd’s Salad
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Julia says

    7th July 2011 at 6:54 am

    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. 🙂

    Reply
  2. jaz@octoberfarm says

    8th July 2011 at 10:38 am

    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!

    Reply
  3. bellini says

    8th July 2011 at 11:42 am

    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

    Reply
  4. A Seasonal Cook in Turkey says

    11th July 2011 at 6:41 pm

    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 ….

    Reply
  5. jaz@octoberfarm says

    12th July 2011 at 10:40 am

    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

    Reply
  6. A Seasonal Cook in Turkey says

    12th July 2011 at 2:49 pm

    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!

    Reply
  7. jaz@octoberfarm says

    12th July 2011 at 5:53 pm

    thank you so much for the recommendations! i just found turkish sausage in the store this morning! i am one happy cook!

    Reply
  8. Meeling says

    14th July 2011 at 1:33 am

    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. 🙂

    Reply

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