Chilled Bulgarian Cucumber and Dill Ayran Cooler with Garden Herbs

Grate the peeled cucumbers on the coarse side of a box grater, then squeeze out roughly half the liquid with your hands — enough to keep the drink from turning watery, but not so much that you lose the fresh cucumber flavour.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 cups plain full-fat Bulgarian or Greek yogurt
• 2 cups ice-cold water
• 2 medium farmers-market cucumbers, peeled and grated
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill, plus sprigs to garnish
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
• 1 small garlic clove, finely grated (optional)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• Ice cubes
• Cracked black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil, to finish

Instructions

1. Grate the peeled cucumbers on the coarse side of a box grater, then squeeze out roughly half the liquid with your hands — enough to keep the drink from turning watery, but not so much that you lose the fresh cucumber flavour.
2. Whisk the yogurt in a large pitcher until completely smooth and free of lumps.
3. Pour in the ice-cold water in a slow stream, whisking constantly, until the mixture is thin and pourable. Adding the water gradually is what keeps the yogurt from splitting into grainy curds.
4. Stir in the grated cucumber, chopped dill, mint, grated garlic if using, lemon juice and salt.
5. Chill for at least 1 hour so the herbs infuse and the drink is thoroughly cold.
6. Taste and adjust — it should read savoury and refreshing, with enough salt to make the cucumber taste sweeter than it does on its own.
7. Whisk again just before serving, pour over ice into tall glasses, and finish each with cracked black pepper, a thread of olive oil and a sprig of dill.
8. Ayran is drunk from the Balkans clear across to Central Asia, and in Bulgaria it doubles as the base for tarator, the cold cucumber soup that appears on every table through the hottest weeks of the year. The line between the two is genuinely blurry — thin the soup and it becomes a drink, thicken the drink and it becomes lunch. Bulgarian yogurt, cultured with Lactobacillus bulgaricus, gives it a distinctive sharpness that stands up to all that dill.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 140 kcal
• Protein: 9g
• Fat: 7g
• Carbohydrates: 11g
• Fiber: 1g
• Sugar: 9g
• Sodium: 690mg