The beloved tzatziki, the Greek dip, has recently been rated as the second-best dish with cucumber worldwide by TasteAtlas.
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable.
Top spot according to the rankings goes to the Chinese smacked cucumber (Pai huang gua). It is a traditional Asian dish that’s especially popular in Tibet as a snack for picnicking. The dish is usually made with a combination of cucumbers, garlic, sesame oil, black vinegar, and soy sauce. The cucumber is peeled and smacked with a rolling pin so that it’s bruised and starting to break apart.
In praise of tzatziki
As a Guardian food critic once wrote “few things can summon up a holiday like a dish of chilled tzatziki. One sniff of this cucumber and yogurt dip and you feel like you should be barefoot with sand between your toes.”
Tzatziki is made from yogurt, cucumbers, garlic, and numerous herbs and spices such as dill, mint, or parsley. It is usually served as a sauce accompanying many meat dishes, as a simple dip, or an appetizer.
“Tzatziki is always served cold, and it is especially popular to serve it with dishes such as gyros and souvlaki,” TasteAtlas notes.
“Often, it is served with pita bread as part of the first course of a big meal. With its huge popularity, and the fact that it is one of the best summer dips, it is not strange that there are many regional variations of tzatziki, in countries such as Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Cyprus, Bulgaria, and Serbia,” it adds.
Following tzatziki on this place is Mexico’s aguachile which is a simple dish originating from the state of Sinaloa. It is a type of Mexican ceviche that (in its most classic version) consists of fresh raw shrimp, cucumber, red onion, lime juice, and water-pulverized chilis, giving the dish its name.
Unlike most ceviches, aguachile is served immediately after coating the shrimp in lime juice, so the shrimp must be as fresh as it can be. Aguachile is commonly accompanied by avocado and tostadas, while the beverage of choice is usually beer or tequila.
There are hundreds of recipes on how to make tzatziki on the internet. Below a French chef demonstrates his skills:
Related: Greece Is Heaven for Vegetarians
