Yogurt dip for chips

This Turkish yogurt dip for chips can be made in seconds and is simplicity itself. The yogurt dip is smooth, tangy and refreshing.

this recipe

It is seasoned with Turkish pantry staples; dried herbs and chili flakes but you can easily substitute the Turkish ingredients! If you need a speedy snack that everyone will rave about, this is the recipe for you.

CURSE OF THE DISCONTINUED CHIPS

When I was living in Turkey I would sometimes buy a specific bag of chips on my way home from college. I can’t remember the name of the ‘flavor’ but they were either Doritos or Lays chips. Anyway, in it would be a small packet of spices. You would mix this spice blend into a bowl of yogurt and you would get a yogurt dip for chips in seconds! I started craving it recently but I remembered that that ‘flavor’ of chips was discontinued years ago. It sent me through a rabbit hole of old posts on Turkish message boards (still a popular way to communicate online in Turkey) trying to find a way to replicate my long-lost yogurt dip for chips at home. I found blurry photos of what I think was that particular bag of chips with the list of ingredients for the spice blend written on the back. And people who were lamenting the loss of these discontinued chips, sure had a lot of opinions about how to make a homemade version.

Turns out that making it is just as easy as buying it as long as you have the right spices in your cupboard. I actually found that the fewer types of spices I used, the more the dip tasted like the one from my memories. Which is weird because when you check the ingredients for the spices packet it’s as long as your arm, but hey lucky for us! Apparently, there is a new flavor of chips with a spice packet available in Turkey but I haven’t tasted it. They don’t store it at my local Turkish store. As they don’t import a lot of chips, I’m not surprised. But it’s so easy to make yogurt dip for chips at home and this copycat version is just as good so I don’t think I would go back to shop-bought anyway!

DIFFERENT TYPES OF TURKISH YOGURT

If you go to a Turkish store, you’ll spot 3 different types of yogurt in the refrigerated section:

• kaymaksız yogurt: is the most common yogurt as it is used as a side, spooned next to rice or bulgur dishes and stuffed vegetables. It’s tangier and thinner than Greek yogurt.
• kaymaklı yogurt: is the same yogurt but with a thin ‘skin’ of dried yogurt on top that you can scrape off.
• süzme yogurt: has a higher fat content than both kaymaksız and kaymaklı yogurts, making it thicker and creamier. It’s the preferred yogurt to cook with and is the one needed to make this yogurt dip for chips.

“INSTRUCTIONS”

I feel kind of bad calling these instructions, hence my use of quotation marks. All you have to do is to put all the ingredients into a medium-sized mixing bowl and whisk everything together. Your yogurt dip for chips is ready!

CORN TORTILLAS

Usually, the Turkish yogurt dip for chips is served with tortilla chips but you can use any chips you like! As long as the chips are sturdy enough to scoop up dip without breaking into dozen pieces, you’re sure to have a delicious snack!

For a healthier spin you could also serve it alongside an assortment of raw vegetables (peeled baby carrots, sliced cucumbers, halved radishes, romaine lettuce leaves,…).

SUBSTITUTES

I wrote the Turkish names in the ingredients list in case you get the opportunity to go to a Turkish store but if you don’t, there are suitable substitutes out there.

• yogurt: Full-fat plain Greek yogurt works well with this recipe. The dip will be creamier and less tangy than if you had made it with Turkish yogurt, but it’ll still be delicious.
  
• aleppo pepper: Pul biber are mild chili flakes. They are hotter than crushed red pepper flakes but they are definitely on the mild side when it comes to chili flakes. If your chili flakes are hot, only put ½ tsp, taste the dip and then add more if you’d like it spicier. If chili flakes are altogether unavailable, you can use 1 tsp of paprika and a pinch of cayenne pepper instead but the color of the dip will turn pinker.
  
• dried thyme leaves: Turkish dried thyme leaves are less leafy, and less hard. They look more like flakes than actual picked thyme leaves that have subsequently been dried. I think regular dried thyme leaves would be too ‘spiky’ to use as a 1:1 substitute for the Turkish version. It would ruin the smoothness of the yogurt dip for chips. I would only put 1 ½ tsp of regular dried thyme leaves instead.
  
• dried mint leaves: dried mint is very common in Middle Eastern cooking and widely available in French supermarkets but I doubt it’s the case everywhere. Its flavor is really different from that of fresh mint so if you can’t find it, I think it’s better to omit it than to substitute fresh. If you absolutely want to add another dried herb to the dip, you could use parsley flakes as fresh parsley (maydanoz) is widely used in Turkey.

Do you have some leftover yogurt? Here are some of my favorite Turkish recipes to use it up:

• Creamy chicken orzo soup (Şehriyeli tavuk çorbası)
• Turkish carrot salad (Yogurtlu havuç kızartması)
• Turkish fry-up with meatballs (Kızartma)

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