Tarhana with Feta Cheese Recipe

image: Priya Q

Pronounced as ‘tra-khana‘ this is a Greek breakfast cereal I had during my trip to Greece 3 months back. I loved it so much so that i picked up few packets of it for my Indian kitchen back home… and I absolutely love it :). Thanks Kay for teaching me how to make it!

Tarhana – 3/4 cups

Water – 2 cups

Dry red chili – 1-2 nos.

Salt to taste

Olive oil – 1 tbsp

Feta Cheese – to your liking!

• In a thick bottom vessel heat oil and add the red chillies and fry for 4-5 seconds
• Add tarhana and water and stir.
• Cook on medium heat and keep stirring in between
• Add salt and cook till the water almost disappears and the cereal cooked
• Serve hot with feta cheese sprinkled over
• Optionally you can drizzles a spoonful of olive oil along with feta cheese

Till next time….happy cooking!

Meet Kay…a retired Librarian, enthusiastic and adventurous, warm and gentle and a lovely person

Greek Salad

While in Greece  Q and myself  got hosted by lovely Katherine called  Kay by her friends. After a long trip to stunning Zagora village (famous for Zagorin apples) in the mountain called Pelion; as we all settled down Kay quickly tossed a salad and served it with some Cipuro ( a stronger version of Ouzo).  How can I describe this Greek salad called Dakos but it to say – DELCIOUS!!And how much we all had!

However, there is a small hitch… One ingredient that gives character to this salad is the Dried bread (called rusk in Greece). I am yet to see this kind of bread in India. The rusk we get here is toasted, faintly sweet and goes well with tea and coffee. So, I might have to wait before I get to have next share of Dakos…no wait may be my newly acquired bread machine can do some magic…hmm goto start experimenting soon!

Meanwhile, herez the recipes for Greek salad called Dakos for those who have all ingredients readily available..

There is no hard a fast rule on the measurements of the ingredients…afterall its a salad! Just toss how much ever you want!

1. Soak the dried bread (rusk) in water and squeeze out the water once the bread is semi soft
2. Toss sliced onions, cubed tomatoes, sliced pepper, black olives, fetta cheese, capers, crushed garlic (optional), oregano and olive oil
3. Mix all and serve

Isnt that insanely simple!? A must try out…

Till next time….happy cooking!

Meet Kay…a retired Librarian, enthusiatic and adventours, warm and gentle and our super host in Thessaloniki. Her taste in home decor can be interesting topic of discussion. Her passion shows in her beautifully done dream house!

Spinach Cheese Pita Recipe

I had never experienced a sit down formal (almost) dinner till I got invited by Alice at her lovely home in Greece where she treated us to Octopus (click here for recipe) and Pita. Your trip to Greece is not complete till you taste the absolutely delicious Pita. It involves some amount of work which pays off in the form of multi crispy layers in a Pita. Alice howver shared a comparitively easier recipe comprising of 2 thick and crispy layers instead of multiple one and still tasting good.

As soon as I can I am going to try this recipe out in my kitchen, meanwhile you try it too and do let me know how well it turned out…

All purpose flour – 2.5 cups

Butter – 225 gms / 1 cup

Salt – 1 tsp

Spinach – 1 kg (boiled)

Green Onions – 2 nos (chopped)

Eggs – 2 nos

Semolina – 1 tsp

Fetta / Mozarella cheese

Parsley / Dil – chopped

Olive oil – 1 tbsp

1. In a bowl combine cold butter and flour with hands till its forms a crumbly texture
2. Add salt and mix well
3. Add 7-8 tbsp of icy cold water and gently mix with a fork till the mixture starts to come together. Refrigerate this mixture for atleast 1 hour.
4. Divide the mixture into 2 halves
5. Roll one half and place it on a pie tray
6. Drain boiled spinach and chop.
7. In a pan heat Olive oil and saute green onions and spinach and leave it to cool
8. After you have turned the heat off add 2 beaten eggs and generous amounts of dil / parsley to the above mixture
9. Season with salt and pepper
10. Add cheese to your liking. More the tastier!
11. Add semolina to pull off the moisture of spinach
12. Add this mixture to the bottom of the pie
13. Roll out the second half of the dough and cover on top of the spinach mixture
14. Score the pastry into portions (see picture) so that the pie gets to breathe
15. Bake the pie at 200 degree C for about 45 minutes to an hour
16. Serve hot

Pita can be served for lunch or dinner with or without side dishes. Serve it with salad or team it up with a portion of Octopus and rice like Alice did!

If you are looking at making multi layer Pita, all you need to do is have roll out 8-12 layers from the dough. Combine 2-3 layers and roll out again

Till next time…..happy cooking!

Meet Alice Eppinga …..Alice is an retired English teacher with an undying love for travel and books and a very interesting person.