Cilantro & Mint Dipping Sauce
While Ramadan could begin tonight, I am beginning to think about one of my favorite times of the month- the breaking of the first fast. What will we have to savor the moment when the sun sets and it’s time to enjoy something sweet, a date perhaps, and then something quick yet savory before it’s time for the maghreb (sunset) prayer?
Cilantro & Mint Dipping Sauce with Saffron Road‘s new savory phyllo hors d’oeuvres
I love crunchy appetizers, but I’m not fond of deep fried foods, particularly after a long day of fasting. I love baked things and I particularly love anything wrapped in flaky phyllo dough, so Saffron Road’s new savory appetizers– Crispy Samosas with Saag Paneerand Crispy Samosas with Vegetables will be on our Iftar table with my homemade Cilantro & Mint Dipping Sauce. Its creamy yogurt-base is stretchable- if you want more, just add more yogurt; if you want it thicker, use less yogurt to begin with.
The ingredients are simple: creamy whole-milk yogurt, ground cumin, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, one small bunch of fresh cilantro…
and fresh garden mint, if you have it.
Place the yogurt in a food processor and add the freshly ground cumin first.
Next add the freshly ground black pepper.
and sea salt…
and then the fresh herbs- all of the cilantro, just the leaves of the mint.
Give it a whirl for about 30 seconds.
If you want it thicker, add a little more yogurt; thinner- add some lemon juice or milk.
This sauce goes perfectly with the new appetizers, which are so nice and buttery when you take them out of the package.
And beautifully browned when baked for exactly 22 minutes in my oven. They’re not heavy or stiff; they’re light and soft, which is the way I now love this type of appetizer most.
They are delicious dipped into the yogurt sauce.
And pretty enough to serve them to your Iftar guests.
Cilantro & Mint Dipping Sauce
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 cup whole-milk yogurt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 small bunch fresh cilantro, stems and all
Leaves of one large stem of fresh mint (or 1/4 bunch)
1 package each of Saffron Road’s Crispy Samosas
Directions
To a food processor, add the yogurt. Add the cumin, black pepper, salt then the fresh herbs. Blend for about 30 seconds.
Pour and serve next to Crispy Samosas with Saag Paneer and Crispy Samosas with Vegetables for dipping. For guests, serve each person a small cup of their own dipping sauce and several samosas on a plate for Iftar.
What is your favorite type of dipping sauce to serve with savory appetizers?
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I mix some Italian dried herbs into a pint of plain yoghurt. Then I leave it to strain overnight. The next day I mix in some Evoo. it’s delicious!
This dips looks great! Perfect for samosas…especially if they are spicy! I love the tamarind chutneys for dipping!
I love a vinegar chilli dipping sauce with Vietnamese spring rolls….soooo yummy
Tomato chutney is great with samosas. splutter mustard seeds in oil, saute some onions and tomatoes, salt to taste, green chillies/chillipowder if you like it hot and blend it all to a fine paste.
As salaamu alaykum, Ramandan Kareem 🙂 Sister i dont have a food processor so is there any other way you can make this tasty dipping sauce? I do have a blender inshaAllaah
I love garlic yogurt! (Except the smell, of course)
Happy Ramadan!
@Karema- sure, a blender will do a great job of combining the ingredients, insha’allah.
BarekAllaahu feki inshaAllaah thank you sister :). Oh one more question what setting should I put it on? i.e chop, blend, puree etc which one will do the job inshaAllaah
Karema- I would start with the ‘chop’ setting to get all the herbs nice and diced up and then move on to blend to combine everything.
Assalamu Alaiku and Ramadan Kareem Sis,
I like a mango chutney and sometimes a yogurt garlic cucumber sauce and also a dark sweet sour barbecue. They all give everyone that special felling when your breaking fast. My family uses all of them in sometimes with one samosa which we all love.
Oh this sounds wonderful!! I can’t have the yummy Samosas as I have to avoid the fat — is there something else this would be good with? Pitas? Also, I have another question. A co-worker is celebrating Ramadan and I’d like to give her a gift at the conclusion. Being a non-Muslim, I don’t want to offend — any suggestions what would be appropriate? Could I bake something? Off to check out more of your blog and recipes!