I read about savoury yoghurt and instantly gagged. Or should I write “savory yogurt” as this trend is meant to originate from the States. Urgh. all questionable trends – cheese in a can, the cronut, twerking, sauce on the side – seem to originate from America and I was more than ready to stick savoury yoghurt in this category. But hold on one tick… I love tzatziki, lap up raita on any curry and am more than happy with a salty ayran. Let’s give this fad a go.
I have to admit here that I scaled down the size of these portions. I tried to make yoghurt the central feature but worked on mouthfuls rather than whole bowls of the stuff. The flavour combos I came up with were….

- yoghurt, tomato, balsamic syrup and cracked black pepper
- yoghurt, dukkah, honey and toasted pine nuts with a squirt of lemon juice
- yoghurt, crispy bacon with onions
- yoghurt, prawn, spring onion, red chilli and coriander
All in all, not bad. The better combinations were those with something sharp to cut through the yoghurt, a strong salty taste, and the combinations that included a thinner sauce element. In hindsight I would have added maple syrup to the bacon and some sort of vinegary chilli sauce to the prawn. All the ingredients were cold or slightly warm.I used a full fat greek yoghurt; while the firmer texture was a plus, I think that it did almost taste too rich and creamy.

Would I eat it again? The dukkah and honey? Definitely. But I can think of other things I would rather do with my prawns. My main doubt is whether it scales up; a mouthful is fine but I think a bowlful would be beyond my tastebuds. What it has told me is that yoghurt is very much a viable alternative for mayonnaise or other creamy sauces, but I’m not sure it will be replacing the more conventional fruit and handful of muesli quite yet.

(The yoghurt samples were all plated with equipment from the presentations kit)