Need savory yoghurt dishes that don't cook the yoghurt

Cafe Society
1

After a round of antibiotics, I’m attempting to re-flora my digestive system with the “good” kinds of biota, so I have acquired a 2 lb batch of nice probiotic greek-style non-flavored yoghurt.

I don’t like sweet yoghurt unless it’s frozen, and I really can’t imagine eating 2 lbs of plain yoghurt just… you know… plain.

Today I did a tex-mex chili where I heated up some dry-packed grilled chicken chunks and salted peanuts with white-chili seasoning and water, then after it was all heated through, I tossed in about half-a-cup of the yoghurt to cool it down to eatable temperature. It was pretty good, but I don’t want to eat the same thing every day for a few weeks.

I like curries as long as they aren’t too hot, and I like greek and italian foods.

I don’t have anything but a freezer, fridge, and microwave at work to cook with, and I do best with really simple things. I’m pretty sure if I heat the yoghurt up, it kills off the little beasties inside, and since that’s really the whole point, I need to have the yoghurt itself uncooked.

So… help?

2

Plain Greek yogurt is great as a substitute for sour cream. I love it as a topping on latkes or spanakopita.

3

Add plain yogurt to a lot of indian curry dishes when they’re done cooking. Yum!

4

Do you have a blender that you could use to make smoothies?

And smoothies can then be put in the freezer which will become frozen yogurt.

My wife loves adding yogurt to her curries. She takes it in a separate container so she can eat the food, then add the yogurt.

Not sure what else to suggest. Like Biffy said you can add it anywhere sour cream would work. You can also strain it in cheese cloth and use it like cream cheese. Alternatively you can thin it with milk to make a drink.

5

Raita is good with curries or Greek food: I just add sliced cucumber and red onion to plain yogurt. It’s best if you use greek yogurt or let it drain for a while first. You can also add fresh cilantro or mint if you like those.

6

If you have an Indian/Pakistani/Bangaldeshi store nearby - get yourself a packet of Cumin powder. You could also buy cumin seeds, roast them a bit until it gives off an aroma and powder it using a coffee grinder. Sprinkle this on the plain yogurt (I prefer Kefir - if storebought) - add salt to suit your taste.

You could also add finely chopped cucumber, finely grated carrots and a some chopped cilantro to make it into a great raita.

I also add “rock” salt - this is purplish black and has a distinct flavor that may put off some - but tastes awesome.

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Or, you know, any grocery store. :stuck_out_tongue:

8

I do variations of Coronation chicken salad. It’s basically a lovely, curry-ish chicken salad. I’ve only used it on sandwiches, myself, but should work on its own, too.

9

That sounds to me like you’re talking about “black salt,” or “kala namak,” which has a very eggy smell and taste to it. Not all rock salt is like that, but if that’s the taste you’re thinking of, it’s kala namak you’re describing.

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Yup Kala Namak it is - I have heard it being referred to as rock salt - but I may be wrong. There is definitely a sulfurous smell to it - like a freshly boiled egg. As soon as I open the bottle in the kitchen my wife is sure to ask - “did you just fart?”

11

Buy a box of dried onion soup, mix one packet with the amount of sour cream/yogurt they recommend on the package, open a bag of regular potato chip, et voila - onion dip! You should be able to use up a lot of that unflavored yogurt.

OK, to be healthier, you can also dip any assortment of fresh veggies like carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, etc. instead of the potato chips.

12

In my experience, “rock salt” is just any large grained salt, and usually stuff that is used in wintry climates for throwing on sidewalks and roads to melt the ice. The usual Anglicized name that I know for kala namak is “black salt.” But even that could be somewhat ambiguous, as there is a type of “black salt” that is sea salt mixed with activated charcoal (“black lava salt.”)

But, wow, do I love the stuff. For the last few weeks, there’s been hardly a day that’s gone by where I haven’t sprinkled kala namak (usually as part of chat masala) on something.

13

Tzatziki - live it, love it! Also known at Greek Cucumber sauce/dip. Start with plain greek yogurt, add garlic, dill, pepper (most recipes call for white pepper, but that’s mostly because they object to black specks in their yogurt - I find the black pepper tastes fine), some lemon juice, and finely diced cucumber.

Use this as a dip with veggies. Or with bread. Or put it on anything vaguely Mediterranean you might make. Makes a nice flavor on burgers or sandwiches.

And if you like it, like I do, you can eat it straight, too. (But I make mine very chunky, with lots and lots of cucumber.)
Also you can make up a largish batch and it will keep fairly well.

My recipe for tzatziki would be:

16 oz greek yogurt

1-2 cloves garlic, crushed, or minced fine. Note: If you’re eating it immediately upon preparation add more garlic; if you can let it sit overnight, or longer, use less.

1 teaspoon dill herb preparation. To replace this with dry dill halve it, then add more if necessary. Fresh dill, double.

a pinch salt, I use kosher salt, but whatever you have handy should be fine.

a pinch pepper

1-2 tablespoons lemon juice - or more often, just the juice of half a fresh lemon.

1 largish cucumber, peeled, deseeded, and diced, or two small ones.

14

Top baked potatoes.

Mix in Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix powder to taste and dip crudite or dress a salad.

Mix one part yogurt and one part mayo as a dressing for tuna, chicken, or potato salad or cole slaw.

15

Your local Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi grocery store will have stuff called “chat masala.” It’s this magical powder, consisting of ground kala namak and a bunch of spices, that makes almost everything taste delicious.

Plain yogurt, lightly whipped with chat masala and a little water, makes a wonderful dressing for your basic veggie salad or fresh fruit salad.

There are a lot of different chat masalas out there, each of which has its own flavor. My favorite all-purpose chat masala is MDH chunky chat masala.:

16

Cucumber soup! Sort of a variation on tzatziki; it’s nice when the weather is too hot to contemplate a hot soup. Take 1 c. yogurt, 1 large seeded cucumber, some green onions and/or garlic, and some dill, salt and pepper to taste, and throw it all in a blender. Would also work well with certain other veggies instead of cucumber - roasted beets spring to mind.

17

Dahi Wadas are fantastic. Look them up.

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In India at least, the common anglicised name for kala namak is rock salt. To the many people who have suggested Indian recipes, is greek yoghurt the same thing as the Dahi/curd/yoghurt used in Indian cuisine?

19

Greek yoghurt is very much like your unsweetened shrikhand - a type of hung yoghurt.

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Best yogurt I ever had was the garlic yogurt we got at a little village in Crete…