Cyprus produces some very interesting and tasty food, below you will find a quick guide to some of the more well known items. Give them try whilst you're on holiday. You will find most of these in the restaurants and supermarkets, and if you are lucky enough to be invited to someone's home for a meal then you may taste some real Cypriot dishes.Here are some of them:
1.Haloumi
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| Fried Haloumi with basil |
Haloumi is a magical cheese. It grills and fries, but doesn't melt like, well, almost every other cheese out there. I'm sure you could melt haloumi cheese if you really really tried and added some moisture, but its non-melting attributes make it a perfect choice for a fried cheese recipe.
I'm a big fan of good cheeses paired with herbs and I chose to accompany this fried cheese with a little fried basil. Hey, thank god it's fried day here on Too Many Chefs. OK, it's Tuesday, and maybe I should have held that joke for a few more days so it actually worked with the day of the week, but I couldn't. It was bursting to come out, but was having trouble since it was so weak.
This would be a great dish as a starter for a dinner party. It can be made in front of the guests who inevitably congregate in the kitchen, and doesn't take any time at all to put together. I haven't tried it, but I'm sure you could keep the fried cheese warm in an oven as you finished off another batch.
I won't put a formal recipe together here. Start with about three tablespoons of olive oil and about 25 basil leaves for a four ounce cube of haloumi. Slice the haloumi into broad flat slices of 1/4" thick. I get 5-6 slices per block.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over high heat. When the oil is hot, but not smoking, toss in the basil and stir lightly, making sure the leaves get coated with oil on both sides (and thus, fried on both sides). After about 60 seconds, remove the leaves from the pan with a fork, leaving as much oil behind as possible.
Lay the cheese slabs into the skillet carefully. Fry on one side until flecked with golden brown, about 2-4 minutes. Flip carefully and fry on the other side until the other side is also flecked with golden brown spots. Remove from the pan, do not blot, and serve with the basil leaves distributed over the top. Serves 2-5 as an appetizer.
2.Sheftalia
Sheftalia is a typical food from Cyprus. Sheftalia is a kind of sausage without skin. Instead of sausage casing it uses caul fat, the membrane that covers the stomach of a lamb or pig, to wrap the ingredients.In a Cyprus meze you will find Sheftalia often among a wide variety of dishes.The filling of Sheftalia is made of ground pork or lamb shoulder and leg. It is mixed with fine chopped onions and parsley and seasoned with salt and pepper. Formed into small round balls it gets wrapped into caul fat and put on skewers.Sheftalia are grilled until they are golden brown, what takes about 20 minutes. They taste best when grilled on charcoal.Often sheftalia are served in pita bread together with chopped tomato, onion, cucumber and parsley as well as some lemon juice.
Recipe for 6-8
Ingredients:
1kg mixed minced meat (pork and beef)
1 egg
1 cup thinly onions chopped
1 cup thinly chopped fresh parsley
4 tablespoons breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon dry oregano (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin, powdered
1 caul fat
Preparation:
Ingredients:
1kg mixed minced meat (pork and beef)
1 egg
1 cup thinly onions chopped
1 cup thinly chopped fresh parsley
4 tablespoons breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon dry oregano (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin, powdered
1 caul fat
Preparation:
Rinse the caul fat and let it drain.Place all remaining ingredients in a large bowl and knead until well combined. If the mixture is too moist add some more breadcrumbs.Cover with a towel and place in refrigerator for about an hour (this will let the flavours to blend).Commence the preparation of Sheftalia by collecting in your palm a portion of meat mixture enough to make a large meatball. Shape a meatball in your palms and place it on the spread caul fat and cut squares of caul fat around them. Wrap them, making little sausages. A kilo of minced meat makes about 26-30 sieftalia.Place the sheftalia on double skewers. Cook on charcoal, over medium heat for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown.Serve with pita bread and garnish with chopped parsley and onion. Enjoy!
3.Trachanas
A traditional Cyprus product using goat's milk which is prepared by pouring it into large earthenware containers or churns and leaving it to turn sour, then pouring it into a clean churn every day for about a week. On the last day, it is put on to boil with wheat and salt. Then it is allowed to set and cool, at which time it is shaped. It is usually made in the villages which breed stock.Servings: 4 -5
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Boiling time: 30 - 45 minutes
Ingredients:
1.5ltr stock (meat, chicken or vegetarian)
200g trahanas
Freshly ground pepper (optional)
½ teaspoon salt (Optional)
125g halloumi cheese cut in small cubes (Optional)
Directions:
Place the trahanas in a medium sized bowl and cover it with water. Let it soak for a few hours. It should soak up all the water. (To speed up the process you can cover it with hot water and when it is partially soft put it in a blender)
In a large saucepan bring the stock with the salt to the boil over a high heat, stirring all the time, then add the trahanas. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 30-45 minutes, stirring from time to time. Do not cover the saucepan as it might boil over. Add more water if you think the soup is too thick and cook for few minutes extra. Five minutes before you turn the heat off add the halloumi. Gently stir until you take the soup off of the cooker.
Serve hot with boiled chicken or on it's own.
This is the soup for all occasions for Greek-Cypriots. Trahanas is dried in the sun in the summer and is our favourite soup in the winter. Have it on a cold winter night, after a long day or when you are not feeling well or when you have a bad cold.
4.Souvla
Barbecues are very popular in Cyprus. "Souvla" can be translated with "skewer". Souvla are mainly pieces of Lam or Chicken, grilled on charcoal grill The Cypriots love their Souvla and there can always be a reason to be invited for.
Ingredients:
salt and pepper
4 cups olive oil mixed with the juice of 3 fresh lemons
oregano
finely ground coriander seeds (optional)
Method:
1. Cut the meat into big chunks and season to taste.
2. Pass meat evenly through 0. 8meter/2. 5foot long and (2cm) 1/4 inch thick metal skewers so that it won't slip down while on the coal fire grill (foukou). Place the skewers over high fire on the foukou.
3. While the meat is turning brush it with some of the olive oil and lemon juice mixture.
4. Season with some oregano and / or finely ground coriander seeds and continue brushing.
5. Using a BBQ fan or a hair blow drier, keep the coal heat down to medium level until the meats are cooked - they must be brownish.
6. Serve with fresh lemon juice - you will spoil the special taste if you use any other BBQ sauces - baked or jacket potatoes, the traditional Cyprus salad. and some iced cold beer or coke.
5.Yemista (Gemista)
Yemista are stuffed vegetables all kinds, favourites in every Cypriot family. Especially in summertime you will appreciate the interesting taste of this Mediterranean speciality. You can order the great number of stuffed vegetables as starters or as main dishes. They can be hot or cold. Served.
The famous stuffed wine-leaves are called "Koupepia". Not only children do fight for the last one! Also tasty are stuffed peppers, tomatoes, onions, courgettes, aubergines or stuffed petals from courgettes. The filling is made with rice and grated tomatoes. However the cook likes minced meet and different spices like parsley or mint can be added.
6 ripe tomatoes
6 peppers
Half kilo of minced meat
Tomato juice or tomato puree and water
2 teacups rice
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 chopped onions
1 teaspoon chopped mint
One and a half teacups olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Method:
First wash the tomatoes and peppers. Then cut a thin round slice off the top of the tomatoes with a sharp knife and keep them aside. Scoop most of the tomato pulp out, with a teaspoon, and shred it finely. Cut the tops off the peppers and keep them aside. Then prepare the stuffing with the following way: Heat the oil in a cooking pan and saute the onions in it, until they look brown. Add the minced meat and let it saute for 10 minutes, stirring with a spoon all the time. Add the tomato pulp, the parsley, salt, pepper, the mint and some water and let them simmer for approximately one hour. Then wash and strain the rice. Add the rice to the stuffing mixture continue cooking for another 10 minutes. Fill the tomatoes and peppers, which you have arranged in a Pyrex dish or baking pan, with the prepared stuffing. Replace the previously saved tops of the tomatoes and peppers. Pour some tomato juice into the pan/dish and fill the gaps between the stuffed tomatoes and peppers with slices of potato. Bake it in a medium oven for approximately 40-45 minutes.
6.Kleftiko
Nowadays "Kleftiko" is a typical dish for every single celebration. It is a piece of lamb or goat wrapped in foil and baked in special ovens, that in any case must be closed airtight, until the Kleftiko will be baked.
The origin of this dish, as history tells us, goes back to the Cypriot freedom fighters of the 19th. century that lived in the mountain. They had to prepare their stolen meat, the Kleftiko, neither that some could smell it, nor that it could be seen. Though they baked it closed in special earthenware pottery, that they had buried under the ground...
1 tbsp olive oil
280 ml water
1 heaped tsp salt
3-4 bay leaves
1 tbsp lemon juice
1kg potatoes
1. Peel and wash the potatoes. Cut each into two or three pieces. Leave small ones whole.
2. Place them on the bottom of an earthenware or deep casserole dish.
3. Cut the meat into pieces and place it on top of the potatoes.
4. Pour the oil and water over the meat, and add the salt, lemon and bay leaves.
5. Cover with the lid and place in a hot oven.
6. Place in a moderate oven and leave to cook for two to three hours until the meat is very tender. Serve with red wine.
7.Mousakas
How to cook mousaka
