Spicy Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

It is cucumber season! I know this because my very first vegetable garden is growing in my backyard. Virtually every plant drowned last week, except for the cucumbers. They've soaked in the rain and, yes, the time has come to eat them. I've decided to celebrate with a falafel dinner. Falafel is the super tasty Mid-Eastern fried chick-pea patty. (I know, I get really odd looks when I bring it to work for my lunch.)

Okay, I don’t make my own falafel. Unlike my friend John, who recently made delicious falafel from scratch, I use a dried mix from the grocery store. I love to serve the cooked falafel in whole wheat pittas with sliced cucumbers, lettuce, onions, hummus, and this delicious yogurt sauce. I came up with this recipe when I was in college. At the time, I was a little confused about Tzatziki, the traditional Greek yogurt sauce. I didn’t have a recipe, so I guessed what might be in it. I came up with this sauce, which is not Tzatziki, but is a lovely blend of spicy heat and mellowing coolness. The recipe is flexible; you can add more or less of everything except the yogurt. If you have tahini, it also adds to the body of the sauce, making the flavor fuller.

Spicy Cucumber Yogurt Sauce
1 1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 jalapeño, minced (remove the ribs and seeds for less heat)
1/2 cucumber
1/2 small, red onion
Juice from 1 lime (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro (you can swap it for dill, too)
optional: 1 tablespoon of sesame tahini

1. Measure yogurt into a medium sized bowl. Add the jalapeño.
2. Chop the cucumber and onion into small chunks.
3. Finely chop the cilantro.
4. Add the cucumber, onion, cilantro, lime juice, and (if you have some) the tahini to the yogurt mixture. Stir well.
5. Allow the yogurt sauce to rest in the refrigerator for at least one hour, letting the flavors meld and intensify.

Serve with falafel, or anything else that needs a spicy, yet cooling sauce.