I love Tzatziki sauce 🙂 (I love Mediterranean food in general!!). I remember the first time I had Tzatziki at a restaurant. I just could not have enough of it and kept ordering some more. The same day I tried it at home and since then it has become my go-to side dish for rice/bread.

Shredded cucumber in Tzatziki inspired me to come up with a similar dip using zucchini. I think shredded veggies go really well in sauces or dips. Here I have brought together a south Indian version of yogurt dip and zucchini to get a really flavorful side. Not only that, it is really healthy too because like cucumber, zucchini contains very high amounts of water making it a naturally low calorie vegetable.

Ingredients

For the dip

1. 2 cups shredded zucchini
2. 1 cup yogurt (I used greek yogurt)
3. 2 dried red chillies (Can be subsituted with green chillies and adjusted according to taste)
4. 1 tbsp grated coconut
5. 1/2 tsp mustard
6. 1/2 tsp jeera
7. 1/2 tsp salt
8. 1 tsp oil

For the tempering (optional)

1. 1 tsp oil
2. 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
3. 1/2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
4. 1/2 tsp urad dal

Preparation Time:   10 min                   

Cooking Time: 10 min

Servings: 3-4

Method

1. Add 1 tsp oil into a non-stick saucepan. Once the oil is hot add 1/2 tsp mustard seeds and 1/2 tsp cumin (jeera).
2. Once the mustard seeds crackle and cumin seeds change color slightly, add the shredded zucchini to the saucepan.
3. Add 1/2 tsp salt and saute well for about 2 min. The zucchini need not be cooked really well.
4. Turn off the heat and let the zucchini cool a little.
5. Add half of the cooked zucchini to a mixer. To this, add 2 dried red chillies and 1tbsp grated coconut. Grind this mixture to a fine paste.
6. Take 1/2 cup thick yogurt in a mixing bowl. Add the other half of the cooked zucchini in the saucepan to this. Also add the ground zucchini-coconut paste and mix well.
7. You can add some water to this if you feel it is too thick. Also you can add some more salt and adjust it according to your taste.
8. Optionally you can add tadka (Indian tempering) to this. For the tadka, take 1 tsp oil in pan. Add 1/2 tsp urad dal (split black gram) to the oil once it is heated. After the dal changes color slightly, add 1/2 tsp mustard seeds and 1/2 tsp cumin (jeera) and let it crackle. Turn off the heat and add the tempering to the yogurt dip.