creamy yogurt cumin seed salad dressing

This creamy cumin seed dressing is a game changer in the world of salad.

I know cumin seeds in creamy salad dressing sounds like a strange idea, but you kinda have to trust me on this one.

Actually, you don’t HAVE to trust me. You could ignore me, and never try this dressing.

But that would be a shame.

Because this dressing is obsession worthy. Or at least, I can say that I have been obsessed with it for the last seven months. My sister made it last summer and there was a jar of it kicking around in our fridge at our lake cottage. I drizzled it over our salad and was like rock-em-sock-em-what-the-heck-is-that?!

She told me how to make it, which is head-slappingly-simple, I made it myself like 100 times in a row and I have been obsessed with it since.

I am busting it out for my new salad dressing stream of consciousness that is just possibly about to unfurl here on a weekly basis. Don’t quote me on that, since I am about as fickle as humanly possible. Last week we had a classic Cider Vinegar Salad Dressing for starters.

This dressing is a year round dressing for sure. But I happen to love it right now in winter while all of those awesome bold bitter greens are in season. It is especially fantastic on embarrassingly large portions of finely chopped raw lacinato kale with feta cheese, shaved fennel and black radishes. Seriously this happened for dinner last night, and when I was through serving my portion of salad, there was no room on my plate for anything else. I had a laughably tiny spoonful of tabbouleh on the side. Heaven.

Last Saturday, we also drizzled it on this almost spit roasted Moroccan lamb shoulder my mom made. I die.

What To Serve This Creamy Cumin Dressing On

• Escarole, chickpeas, goat cheese, and shredded carrots
• Use it for a twist on 3-bean salads with blanched green beans, kidney beans and edamame
• Big Taco salads with green lettuce or Romaine, browned ground turkey (or pinto beans) avocado, crushed tortilla chips, tomatoes, salsa.
• 2 part Romaine and 1 part raddichio with diced apples and walnuts
• Perhaps my favorite idea is best for grilling season: arugula topped with grilled lamb, juicy tomatoes and cucumbers. You could also add mint, pita chips, feta and/or chickpeas.

Let me know which one you try!

How To Make Creamy Yogurt Cumin Seed Dressing

1. I call for full fat Greek yogurt in this dressing because I think it has better mouth feel as an ingredient in this tart dressing. EatingWell did a great piece on fat last year that if you missed it totally worth reading. Here’s another post- short and sweet they ran about fat. They sing the praises of full fat yogurt. That said,if you are trying to cut calories, please feel free to try making the dressing with low-fat or non-fat Greek yogurt and let me know how it goes.
2. I added a few notes below about this, but I will reiterate here too. The garlic is too strong if you just mince it, who wants big palate jarring chunks of garlic in their salad? Not me, so IMO there are two options to get around that. My favorite way to do it, I learned from watching the Rachael Ray show. No joke. Just grate the garlic with a microplane grater. You have one of those by now right? I also call them a rasp-style grater since microplane is a brand name, and I have no favoritism when it comes to these graters. If you don’t have a rasp-style grater, go ahead and order one right now. I’ll wait right here.
3. Hi, you’re back. While you wait for it to arrive you can still make the dressing. Just do this: Mince the garlic, sprinkle it with some of the salt, and then mash it with the side of your knife into the cutting board. It will make a smooth garlic salt paste, and will melt seamlessly into the dressing. No big surprising palate jarring chunks of garlic. No sir-ee.
4. The other note is this. The cumin seeds are best if they are fresh or better yet toasted a bit in a dry skillet. This really brings out their flavor, and imparts much more cumin essence into the yogurt. It works fine if you don’t do this step, but if you have the time, it makes a difference for sure.

QUESTIONS:

What combination of salad ingredients would you try with this dressing?

Do you have a Microplane grater?

Please make me feel better that I am not the only person who has picked up more than a few great cooking tips from Rachael Ray.

Full fat yogurt- yey or nay?

creamy yogurt cumin seed dressing

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

• Author: Katie Webster
• Total Time: 5 minutes
• Yield: 3/4 cup 1x

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Description

Creamy yogurt dressing with cumin seed and garlic. A delicious dressing for kale, with lamb or to go on taco salad.

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Ingredients

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• ½ cup full fat plain greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small clove garlic, finely grated with a rasp-style grater tip*
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, tip*
• ½ teaspoon salt
• pinch sugar, optional

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Instructions

1. Whisk yogurt, vinegar and oil in a medium bowl. Add garlic, cumin seed, salt and sugar (if using) and whisk to combine.

Notes

0 g Cholesterol, 0 g Added Sugars

Tip * If you do not have a rasp style grater, mince the garlic, then mash with the side of your knife with the salt to form a paste.

tip* take an extra three minutes to toast your cumin seeds for even more flavor. Heat seeds in a small heavy skillet over medium heat,swirling the pan often, until fragrant and starting to darken, 1 1/2 to 3 minutes. It is okay to add to the dressing hot!

• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Category: Salad Dressing
• Method: No Cook
• Cuisine: American

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 2 tablespoons
• Calories: 55
• Sugar: 0.8 g
• Sodium: 11 mg
• Fat: 4.5 g
• Saturated Fat: 0.5 g
• Carbohydrates: 1 g
• Fiber: 0 g
• Protein: 2 g

Keywords: Creamy Salad Dressing,Cumin dressing,yogurt dressing