Mast-o-Khiar ~ Persian Cucumber Yogurt Dip

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Today is Ramadan 30 – after long, we seem to be having a full month this year in this part of the world. The past week has been depressing. The Turkey Airport attack, the suicide bombing in a busy market place in Iraq, the Dhaka cafe attack, and then the two attacks in Saudi Arabia – one in Jeddah, and the most painful one in Madinah. All we can be reminded is of these verses from the Holy Quran:

“And surely We shall try you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth and lives and crops; but give glad tidings to the steadfast, who say, when a misfortune strikes them: Indeed, we are Allah’s and indeed, unto Him we are returning.” (Surah Al-Baqarah:155-156)

All we can do is make sincere dua to give all those who have been affected by the trials with patience, and ourselves patience to not be desperate over what is happening, and to be steadfast. For, He Himself says:

“Deem not that Allah is unaware of what the wicked do. He has given them a respite till a day when eyes will stare (in terror),” (Surah Ibrahim:42)

May Allah protect us and keep us among the steadfast, who will be blessed with His Ultimate House… Aameen…

Moving to today’s recipe… I didn’t move on to our Eid break without sharing this delicious yogurt dip… We Indians never have our biriyanis or rice dishes without a yogurt side. I already have a few on the blog. Today, I am sharing you a very simple one, which is a favorite side  dish for Iranian rice dishes. I had already promised in my Khoresht Bamiah post that I would share a few Iranian dishes, so here is the second one.”Khiar” is the Persian/ Arabic word for cucumber, and “Mast” means yogurt. So literally the name just means yogurt with cucumber, hehe… This delicious dip is spiked up with some mint and garlic. I have used fresh here but have also made it with dried and it has been wiped up by the family. The kids love yogurt and love cucumber even more, so they really didn’t care the garlic and mint while wiping off their bowls of this delicious dip. During this Eid, try pairing your biriyani with this dip and InShaAllah, you won’t be disappointed…

ThakabalAllah Minna Waminkum… May Allah accept all our deeds during this beautiful month of Ramadan and bless us with piety till the coming Ramadan, InShaAllah… 🙂 

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Mast-o-Khiar ~ Persian Cucumber Yogurt Dip

Course Dips

Cuisine Iranian

Prep Time 2 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 17 minutes minutes

Servings 3

Author Rafeeda

Ingredients

• 1 cup yogurt
• 1 cucumber chopped
• 3 tbsp finely minced mint leaves
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
• Set aside for 15 minutes in the fridge for the flavors to settle.
• Serve alongside rice.