I made this dip last evening for dinner, to go with my roasted Asian-spice rub chicken legs (visit my blog post Roasted chicken legs with an Asian spice rub). On my visit to our neighborhood Farmers Market this week, I picked up some Padron peppers (tiny Spanish green peppers, very mild in taste). You can substitute with mini bell peppers too. Since I had my oven at 400F for the chicken to be roasted, I tossed in the garlic and peppers (brushed with some olive oil) in the oven alongside. I did not use a whole head of garlic, just a few cloves, say 5 or 6, added a little olive oil and wrapped them in a little foil packet. The peppers cook and soften pretty fast, the garlic takes about 30 mins or so, to get softened and develop a rich garlicky flavour.
For the dip, the ingredients are:
1 cup low-fat plain yoghurt
5-6 large cloves garlic, with peels on
1 tbsp. mayonnaise
1/2 tsp. dijon mustard
5-6 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 tbsp. lemon juice
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
To thicken the yoghurt and remove the moisture, place it in a muslin/cheesecloth and hang it over the kitchen sink, so the moisture drains into the sink, for an hour or so. We also call it ‘hung curd’ in our home. Alternatively one could also use thick Greek yoghurt, which is creamier, and avoid the above process. As you wish!
Let the garlic cloves cool once they are roasted. Squeeze out the pulp, mash it with the back of a spoon and at it to the thick yoghurt. Add the mayonnaise, mustard, basil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix well and serve chilled.
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