6 Healthy Homemade Yogurt Dips and these dips will go with almost all kinds of snacks. #cleancooking #quickhealthyrecipes

Regular baking and running a baking blog, has filled my life with so much food. I have been asked many times, how much of the food I post on the site, is consumed by me. Truth is I am conscious, I do try to control portion size when indulging. I believe in sharing calories with close friends too… lol … so I keep sending across sweet treats. They share a big part of my life; they can definitely share my calories, and I also get the benefits of useful feedback.

Me being conscious is good, but I do worry about kids. The red velvet cupcakes, I posted last week; my daughter simply refused to share, she wanted to have them all.

I try to make thing healthy for kids most of the times. For example – My kids have forgotten about mayonnaise, ketchup etc.  They are in love with Yoghurt dip I make regularly at home. For all kinds of snacks, or sandwiches the dipping sauce is always yoghurt based.

Today’s blog is all about different types of yoghurt dips. You can choose any of them, they all work well with almost all kinds of snacks. I don’t want to go ahead and tell you the health benefits of yoghurt. It great for our health, we all know it; until and unless someone is lactose intolerant.

So let’s just quickly get to the recipe. But I must share with you few points:

1. We don’t need any fancy Greek yoghurt stuff. Your homemade yoghurt works great in all the recipes mentioned below.
2. Yes, we do need thicker consistency, because its gonna be a dip, not raita. So we are using hung yoghurt. The consistency should be somewhere closer to the image above.
3. You can use full-fat milk to prepare yoghurt, or the regular milk you use at home should work fine for making the yoghurt. Just make sure you hang it enough to reach the same consistency.
4. I don’t like to run hung yoghurt in the mixer or in the food processor along with other ingredients for any of the recipes mentioned below. I believe we lose that thickness/consistency. My suggestion is to puree the I ingredients in the mixer grinder; if required or mentioned in the recipe. Then whisk the hung yoghurt using a wire whisk and mix both together.
5. It is very important that you check the seasoning before serving the dips. You can serve these dips with Cut-up vegetable sticks, cracker, pretzels, potato chips or pita chips.

French Onion Yoghurt Dip

French Onion Yoghurt Dip

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
Fiordelisi Extra Virgin Olive Oil – 500 ml

1 cup finely chopped shallots

Kosher salt

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 cup Hung Yoghurt (whisked)

2 tablespoons of sour cream

chopped fresh chives

Freshly ground black pepper

Method

Heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent and soft, about 5 minutes. Add a spoonful of water and vinegar, reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are browned and caramelized. But make sure you keep the flame low and don’t burn it.

When done cool to the room temperature.

Combine the shallots, yoghurt, cream, chives, salt and pepper in a medium bowl and stir all using a wire whisk. Let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes to let flavours meld. Serve with potato fries or anything you like for dipping.
Do Ahead: Dip can be made 1 day ahead; cover and chill.

Classic Cucumber Yoghurt Dip

Classic Cucumber Yoghurt Dip

Ingredients

1/2 a cucumber, unpeeled

1 cup plain hung yoghurt whisked

1  garlic cloves, finely minced

1 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 Teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 a teaspoon of sugar

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon of dried mint powder
Sameera Pudina powder 100g

Method 

Grate the cucumber and drain out all the excess water, squeezing it between your palms.

Combine the yoghurt, garlic, oil, lemon juice, sugar and salt in a large bowl.  Add the grated cucumber and mint powder to the yoghurt mixture and stir to combine. Serve chilled with the snack of your choice.

TIP: Make sure your grated cucumber is well-drained. If you have time, you can drain it in cheesecloth or a fine mesh sieve overnight.

For best results, combine all of the ingredients except for the cucumber and let it rest overnight in the fridge while your cucumber is draining.

Add the mint powder at the last minute so it doesn’t overwhelm the rest of the flavours.

Honey walnut Yogurt Dip

Honey walnut Yogurt Dip

Ingredients: 

2 teaspoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Urban Platter Shelled Kashmir Walnuts, 400g

1/2 teaspoon dried or 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

2 tablespoons good quality mild honey
Raw Essentials Multi flora Raw Honey 350 g (Pure, Unfiltered)

1 cup of  plain hung yoghurt whisked

2 tablespoon of cream

Method: 

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add walnuts and stir until just toasted and beginning to brown. Remove from the heat. Stir in thyme quickly, then add honey and stir to coat walnuts.

Whisk the yoghurt well along with some cream. Add to the bowl and spoon honeyed walnuts over the top.

Sumac Garlic Yoghurt Dip

Sumac Garlic Yoghurt Dip

Ingredients

1 small garlic clove, grated

1 cup plain hung yoghurt (whisked)

1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil plus more for serving

1/2 teaspoon sumac plus more for serving
Easy Life Sumac Berry Powder 75gm

Salt to taste

Freshly roasted cumin

Method

Whisk garlic, yoghurt, oil, roasted cumin roughly pounded and 1/2 teaspoons sumac in a medium bowl; season with salt.
Spoon sauce onto a platter. Sprinkle with sumac and some cumin powder a drizzle of olive oil on the top.

Notes: What is sumac powder – The sumac bush, native to the Middle East, produces deep red berries, which are dried and ground into coarse powder. It adds tartness to dishes. Ground sumac is a versatile spice with a tangy lemony flavour, although more balanced and less tart than lemon juice. A small sprinkle also adds a beautiful pop of colour to any dish.

Spinach yoghurt dip

Spinach yoghurt dip

Ingredients

1 6-ounce bag baby spinach

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

Salt, preferably kosher salt, to taste
Urban Platter Arabian Sea Salt Flakes, 500g

1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (more to taste)

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1 cup hung yoghurt whisked

2 tablespoons of sour cream

Freshly ground pepper

Method

Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Fill a bowl with ice water. When the water comes to a boil, add the spinach and blanch for 10 to 20 seconds. Transfer to the ice water, cool for a minute, then drain and squeeze dry. Chop coarsely.

Place the garlic in a mortar and pestle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and mash to a paste (alternatively, finely mince). Combine with the lemon juice and olive oil, and let stand for 10 minutes.

Stir in the yoghurt and sour cream. Combine the chopped spinach with the prepared yoghurt.

Add freshly ground pepper to taste and more salt if desired. Serve with bread, pita, chips or raw vegetables.

How to prepare Sour cream at home

Spiced beet yoghurt dip

Spiced beet yoghurt dip

Ingredients

1 medium beetroot

2 small garlic cloves, minced

1 small red chile, seeded and minced

1 cup whisked hung yoghurt

1 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
American Garden Pancake Syrup, 710ml

Salt to taste

1/4 cup lightly roasted cashews, chopped
Roasted Cashew 400gm(200gm pack of 2) Top Grade

2 tablespoons goat cheese

crumbled 2 scallions

Method 

Peel and dice the beetroot and cook with little water and a pinch of salt over a medium flame, until tender. Let it cool slightly.    Transfer to a food processor. Add the garlic, chile and pulse until blended. Add the olive oil, maple syrup and mix well. Season with salt. Scrape into a wide, shallow bowl.  Add the whisked yoghurt and scatter the toasted cashew nuts, goat cheese and scallions on top and serve.

Some more interesting recipe ideas where you can use Yoghurt for healthy cooking:

Make yoghurt pesto- add some pesto to hung yoghurt and mix well. This makes an amazing + healthy dipping sauce.

My elder daughter loves mint powder yoghurt dip and I make it very often at home. just add hung yoghurt with dry mint powder with some basic seasoning, its #cleancooking.

I also make cold pasta salads at home using hung yoghurt instead of mayonnaise.

Give classic Ranch salad dressing or dip, a healthy makeover with this yoghurt-based version. Swap out the cream and replace it with yoghurt.  Yoghurt makes this recipe low in calories, while Dijon mustard and spices still add that zesty Ranch flavour you need. Dip raw veggies in the dip, or drizzle over greens for a tasty salad.

My favourite breakfast is to have a yoghurt dip on a toast along with yum oven roasted cherry tomatoes.

5 Quick Dipping Sauces

HONEY TWIGS MULTI FLORA AND LITCHI