A quintet of Fresh As freeze dried powder dips.

We're heading off for a week's wintry hiking in the South Island soon . Just for day walks so each evening we'll be returning to a comfortable and warm motel  to thaw out and rest our weary legs.

Without access to all the herbs and spices in my pantry and garden it's always a bit of a challenge to cook a tasty dinner in a motel kitchen and it calls for some creative thinking.

In my luggage this time will be some little resealable foil packets of Fresh As freeze dried herbs and spices.These are incredibly handy as they take up hardly any room, are resealable and are intensely flavoured. I've been trying them out at home and will post some of the recipes I developed with them soon. But these dips were my starting point.

I felt a bit like an alchemist swirling the coloured powders through little bowls of full cream yoghurt.The  dips can easily be multiplied. You can also add a little squeeze of lime juice to each dip but this is not essential.

The first three I served as part of a crudites platter with a collection of raw vegetables including celery and carrot sticks and sliced red pepper. 

Lemon grass, garlic and coriander dip

Mix together:

1/4 cup of Greek yoghurt

1/2 teaspoon of Fresh As freeze dried  lemongrass powder

1/2 teaspoon of Fresh As freeze dried coriander powder

1/4 teaspoon of Fresh As freeze dried garlic powder

Garlic dip

Mix Together:

1/4 cup of Greek yoghurt

1/4 teaspoon of Frsh As freeze dried garlic powder

Chilli Dip

Mix together:

1/4 cup of Greek yoghurt

1/4 teaspoon of Fresh As freeze dried chilli powder   or more depending on how hot you like it. But be careful, a little goes a long way!)

Once I was in the flow of things it was hard to stop so I created two variations which tasted especially good. The first was a quick way of making tzatziki , a garlicky cucumber dip. Good as a vegetable dip but we also enjoyed it as a side with freshly caught and fried snapper. 

Tzatziki

1/2 cup of Greek yoghurt

1/2 teaspoon of Fresh As freeze dried garlic powder

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1/4 telegraph cucumber

a squeeze of lemon/lime juice

salt and pepper to taste

Stir the Fresh As freeze dried garlic and olive oil  into the yoghurt. Add a squeeze of lemon/lime juice (about 1 teaspoon)

Peel and grate the cucumber.

Put the cucumber into a sieve and press down on it with a spoon to remove excess liquid

Stir the cucumber into the yoghurt mixture.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Chilli and Smoked Paprika Dip

Apart from its vibrant colour The Fresh As freeze dried chilli powder is I think far superior to the often stale tasting chilli powder found in packets on most supermarket shelves. In this dip I have combined it with some smoked paprika , The result is not just good as a dip but great to spread liberally on a wrap before adding coleslaw and pulled pork/chicken.

Ingredients:

Stir together:

1/2 cup of Greek yoghurt

1/2 teaspoon of Fresh As freeze dried chilli powder

1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika

a squeeze of lime juice

2-3 tablespoon of mayonaise