Purslane (Portulaca oleracea, gr. glistrida, antrakla, adrahni) is a plant with fleshly leaves, growing wild all over Greece and also cultivated for use in horiatiki salad or eaten by its own with olive oil and vinegar.

Archaeobotanical researches have retrieved purslane seeds from a protogeometric layer in Kastanas and the Samian Heraion (7th century BC). Ancient doctors and herbalists found purslane helpful in treating inflammation in the urinary system (Hippokrates), mouth (Galen), digestive tract (Dioskourides) etc. Dioskourides thought that it could reduce the sexual desire, an opinion that was widely accepted until 17^th century. The 17th century monk Agapius Landus from Crete suggested a fresh green salad made with purslane, basil, rocket, cress, and garlic to those suffering «the common cold». Modern researchers found that purslane is one of the very few plants that contain alpha linolenic acid, a type of omega-3 fatty acid normally found in fish and some algae. It is an explosion of vitamin C, also contains some vitamin B and carotenoids, as well as minerals, such as magnesium, calcium, potassium and iron. Two types of its betalain alkaloid pigments, the reddish betacyanins and the yellow betaxanthins have been found to have antimutagenic properties in laboratory studies.

Although purslane is widely eaten raw or pickled in vinegar by Greeks, is rarely consumed cooked. Two Cretan recipes of lamb or chicken cooked with purslane could have been introduced by the Greek refugees from Asia Minor, since in Turkish cuisine purslane is used just like spinach. A salad with yogurt and purslane also reminds of the Turkish Yogurtlu Semizotu Salatas. However, in that case it could be a coincidence, one of those that happen to cuisines based on similar sources.

SALAD WITH PURSLANE & YOGURT

(ΣΑΛΑΤΑ ΜΕ ΓΛΙΣΤΡΙΔΑ ΚΑΙ ΓΙΑΟΥΡΤΙ)

1 cup purslane leaves, washed, dried and chopped

well-strained yogurt, enough to cover purslane leaves

½ cup green olives preserved in lemon without pits, cut into rings.

1 tb virgin olive oil, or more if you like

vinegar, a couple of drops

salt, black pepper

(optional 2 cloves garlic, crushed)

Mix yogurt, garlic, olive oil, vinegar and olives in a bowl. Add purslane and mix again. Add salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until it is time to eat. Serve it with bread or with any roast or grilled food.

Tags: Cretan cuisine, Asia’s Minor refugees, glistrida, antrakla, γλιστρίδα, αντράκλα.

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To Laurie…

During last years the Greek traditional cuisine and local culinary practices are in the focus of interest not only for tourism but also for food editors and writers. An intense interest for traditional food emerges also from the blogs of second-generation Greek immigrants. Since local and traditional food is linked to the heritage, culture and identity of a country, food helps to express who we are and which our roots are. However the question is, what does ‘traditional’ really mean?

• Traditional food according to the European Parliament means that a food’s ingredients or composition or production or processing method show its transmission between generations. A food is called traditional if has been used “since before the Second World War”. (16-03-2006)
• Despite this, traditional food can mean many different things for different people: it is a link to the local history and culture; it can be associated with respect for the environment, health benefits, better taste; it implies authenticity, purity or the desire for authenticity and purity, etc.
• But, anyway, what does authentic cuisine mean? The local, seasonal food most people eat most days at home? Is seasonal food traditional and vice versa? Yes, it almost was, before the popularization of refrigerator. Is traditional food local and vice versa? Yes, it is when the cultural contacts, the trade and wealth do not exist. In past the cooking of remote villages was almost totally local and in some cases ultimate poor. But, at the present time how many of us eat only seasonal local foods? Actually we are addicted to non-seasonal because we are addicted to convenience. It is very convenient to eat anything at anytime of the year.
• Is traditional local food authentic and pure? During Greek history there were plenty of people demanding authenticity and purity in cuisine, focusing their interest on the “ethical disruption of traditional food” that was caused by cultural contacts. In fact, authenticity and purity is an illusion. Even worse, the demand for authentic or inauthentic food can become a fence to keep people in their places.
• The truth is that adaptation and change affect even the local cuisine. Local cuisine may be not as dynamic as its urban sister is, may be even conservative and without distant horizons but is not unaffected by changes. Tomato is a New World crop. It is one of the hallmarks of summer Cretan cuisine, though has been viewed as poisonous by previous generations. Well, the Cretan cuisine before the tomato was much different in taste and color than today’s Cretan summer cooking.
• Does Greek traditional food is healthy? Yes if the consumption of greens, vegetables and fruits, the extensive use of olive oil and the moderate use of meat characterize it. But… now we are talking about the cuisine of Crete and islands, aren’t we? I mean that Greek cuisine is divided into geographic regions with people having different kinds of sources, different cultural and dietary traditions and even distinctive food tastes. If a man will follow the diet of a small Greek pastoral community from 50ies, he will eat lots of dairy products, butter, fat and meat. If he will not walk a lot and does not follow the dietary restrictions of Lenten as his 50ties fellow did, he will probably trigger off a heart attack.
• Does tradition mean that a woman born in 1970 cooks just like her mother and grandmother and grand -grandmother? What do they represent, an unbroken line of foods and methods? Obviously, she has the availability to choose, to adapt, to interpret and combine, in ways that her mother could not even dream of them.
• Is Greek urban cuisine traditional? Let’s see the case of moussaka, one of the best known specimens of Greek urban cooking. Moussaka is an eggplant and ground meat dish covered with a thick layer of bechamel sauce. It can be made with other vegetables besides eggplant, such as zucchini or potatoes or artichokes or a combination of them. A Lenten version is dated already in 1920; a dish also called moussaka, is made with snails instead of ground meat and originated in Eastern Crete. A version which is not made with bechamel sauce and its last layer is of hardtack or beaten eggs was named in the Greek cooking books of 1929-1960 as “moussaka imitation”. Food scholars believe that the word moussaka is of Arabic origin; the root saqq in Arabic means chop. Some scholars also believe that Arabs introduced moussaka in Greece, when they brought the eggplant. They propose that Maghmuma or al Muqatta’a, a dish from the Baghdad cookery book, that is a 13^th century Arabic cookbook, could be the ancestor of moussaka. 
• Eggplant was introduced into Greece in 12^th century but there is no mention of moussaka until the late 19th century. Moussaka is also found in Turkey. In 1862, Turabi Efendi published the first recipe of mussaka (Turkish Cookery Book). The Turkish dish is made with eggplants, or other vegetables, cut into small cubes and ground meat either lamb or beef. It seems likely that turkish musakka is quite related to the Arabic recipe.
• But what about Greek moussaka?  In 1920, when the Ottoman occupation was still fresh, Nikos Tselementes, a Greek chef of Siphnian origin who grew up in Constantinople and trained in France, had already devoted himself to “clean” Greek cuisine from Turkish flavors. Thus, he added a French sauce, bechamel, to moussaka, in order to “free” the dish from his Turkish “past”.  Moussaka, a Europeanised dish of Arabic origin which introduced in Greece via Turkey, became one of the characteristic dishes of Greek urban cuisine; it was needed many ingredients and plenty of time that a woman from an agro-pastoral community could not waste on a food.
• The history of mussaka implies that urban cuisine is more responding to new ingredients, cultural and religious influences, trade and fashion. It is flexible. Urban cuisine can create tradition however this tradition is receptive to changes, influences and interpretations.
• Ultimately I believe that ”traditional” Greek cuisine is an evolving hybrid. It has the hallmarks of travels, trade, agricultural development, immigrations, inventions, cultural contacts, religion, politics, memories, history; past and present have always coexisted, the future is out there. What a solemn feeling if we would see the few stones where our daily cooking could stood without them! After all, culinary heritage combines conservation and innovation. And even if lifestyle changes, it can be an important source for re-creation of gastronomic knowledge and practices.

And here is the likely source of moussaka! 

MAGHMUMA 

“Cut fat meat small. Slice the tail thin and chop up small. Take onions and eggplant, peel, half-boil, and also cut up small: these may, however, be peeled and cut up into the meat- pot, and not be boiled separately. Make a layer of the tail at the bottom of the pan, then put on top of it a layer of meat: drop in fine-ground seasonings, dry coriander, cumin, caraway, pepper, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. On top of the meat put a layer of eggplant and onion: repeat, until only about four or five fingers’ space remain in the pot. Sprinkle over each layer the ground seasonings as required. Mix best vinegar with a little water and a trifle of saffron, and add to the pan so as to lie to a depth of two or three fingers on top of the meat and other ingredients. Leave to settle over the fire: then remove.”

(Clifford Wright: Is this the first Moussaka?) 

 Recipes for Greek moussaka:  Greek Gourmand,  Kalofagas,  Organically cooked

          Turkish musakka: Turkish Cookbook

Tags: Tradition, local food, authentic food, urban cuisine, moussaka, musakka, maghmuma.

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To this very day there is a habit among islanders of chewing the seeds of melons and watermelons, after the fruits’ flesh have been consumed. Until late sixties, pepitada, a Jewish Sephardic milky – looking beverage made with melon’s seeds was also familiar to Greeks Christians of Rhodes, Chania (Crete) and Thessaloniki. It is worthy of notice that Chania had an old established Jewish Romaniotes community, not a Sephardic one. However, pepitada existed among Christians of Chania as tonic refreshment.

Pepitada is a Ladino word meaning ‘made from fruit seed’. The Sephardic Jews drink it when the fast of Yom Kippur is broken and before eating again. Apart from a tonic drink for braking fast, pepitada is a wonderful refreshment for hot days. Ιt is a pity that pepitada is not made anymore by Christian Greeks.

2 cups melon seeds. You can also use pumpkin seeds.

 4 cups water

½ cup sugar orange flower or rose water or almond extract

Wash the seeds until they are cleaned. Drain well and sun dry them for 2-3 days. Spread them on a baking sheet and toast them until golden. Remove from the oven, let them cool and crush them in a mortar. Put them in a muslin bag, tie up tightly and place the bag in a glass pitcher filled with 4 cups water, for 36 hours. Keep the pitcher in the fridge. Every few hours give bag a few squeezes. The moisture from the bag will change the colour of the water. The last day, squeeze the bag tightly to remove all its liquid into the water. Set the mixture over low heat, add the sugar, stir and cook until the sugar is melted.

Flavour with the orange flower or rose water or almond extract. Serve pepitada chilled in small glasses.

Tags: Romaniotes, Sephardites, melon, beverages, non-alcoholic drinks, Chania, Rhodes, Thessaloniki

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Apart from the fruit or spice - flavored syrups that are diluted with water and served chilled (lemonade, cannelada etc.) there are some more refreshments that give welcome relief from the hot weather. They are made in a moment and are sometimes fruit based; vegetables, seeds, almonds or yogurt can be used as well. These non-alcoholic drinks are usually homemade except those made with melon or watermelon, which are also found at cafeterias. The fruit based ones are not juices, since they have water added. Despite this, when they are served in cafeterias the word juice is also applied to them. If they are made at home, they are called as follows: peponada from peponi = melon, karpouzada from karpouzi = water melon, etc. Some of them are lightly sweetened with sugar but fruit refreshments may not require any at all. The yogurt drinks are lightly salted. They are ideal cooling drinks for hot summer days but only the salted ones accompany meals.

Lemonada

Squeeze one large lemon into a glass, add 1 ½ tsp. of sugar, or more if you like it sweet, stir well, fill the glass with water and stir again. Don’t add ice cubes, just use very cold water. For a foamy result add 1/3 tsp, or less, of baking soda.

During 60ties this sort of lemonada was not only fashionable but it was also thought of as effective assistance for digestion problems.

Serve the lemonada accompanied by a warm or cold piece of a watermelon pie.

Karpouzenia, καρπουζένια, karpouzopita, καρπουζόπιτα, watermelon pie.

This pie is found in Kimolos, Milos and Folegandros. It is usually made with the local very tasty small watermelons that are grown up waterless.

Flour

a little sugar, depending on your taste

1 tbs. cinnamon powder

the flesh of 2 ½-3 kg seedless, not very sweet watermelon, cut into 3 cm. pieces

6 tbs honey

sesame seeds

Mash the flesh with a fork. Place a strainer over a bowl and strain watermelon pulp for 1 hour; reserve juice, it will be a wonderful drink. Mix all of the ingredients well, except 3 tbs honey, until the pulp is medium smooth.

Pour mixture into a greased pan and sprinkle the sesame seeds.

Bake at medium preheated oven for 45 minutes. When karpouzenia comes out the oven, spoon the honey over the top.

Tags: non - alcoholic drinks, watermelon, lemon, fruit pies

11 Comments »

Lentils are not only used as a staple food, but also as a design element. This is a table decorated with a lentil sprouts’ construction.

 Marie Claire (in Greek), July 2008, p. 229-30. Designer: Petros Mantouvalos.

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Good manners is child of morality and social conventions. Of course they change, following the change of morals and society. During the last years of 19th century and first thirty years of 20th century, Greece faced major crises, military mobilizations, wars, political conflicts, a National Schism, economic insecurity, the problems of thousands refugees who arrived in waves between 1855 and 1932 from Crimea, Caucasus, Eastern Romylia, Thrace and western Asia Minor, overseas emigration etc.

Under such difficult conditions good manners became not only a way of keeping the civilization in every day life but also the hallmark of a cosmopolitan upper social class.1

The cookbooks of this period explains the rules relating to guests at lunch or dinner party. 

A guest eats slowly and politely, not hastily.

A guest never gets much food.

A guest eats using fork and knife; he/she never uses hands. He/She never carries food to the mouth with a knife.

A guest puts the napkin on his/her thighs and knees, never tucks it into his/her collar.

He /She cuts meat and other foods into small pieces so as to avoid stuffing the mouth full of food.

When he/ she needs salt he/she uses the special spoon or a clean knife, never the hand.

A guest takes bread  with the fingers and cuts it into small bites. He/She never dips his/her bread into the sauce, nor cleans his /her knife with a piece of bread.

A guest never smells his food. However it is acceptable if he does it at a small restaurant.

Fish must be cut off with specific knife.

 A guest uses the napkin for mouth whenever necessary, so that he/she will not soil his/her glass.

A guest cuts cheese into small pieces and eats it on a bit of bread. He/She never carries it to the mouth with a knife.

Fruits are cleaned and cut with a small knife and a small fork. Nuts are broken open with a nutcracker, never cracked by teeth. Sweets are meant to be eaten with small fork and knife, never with hands, apart from small dried sweets and cakes.

A guest cleans his/her teeth only with a toothpick.

A guest doesn’t try to catch a knife or fork that has fallen accidentally. This is a job for the servant.

He/She chats without raising voice. He/She does not shout down to the ear of the people seated on either side of him/her.

A guest does not lean on the table but leans over the plate each time he/she takes a bite.

A guest does not ask a second round of the same dish.

He/She sets the pits of olives on the edge of his/her plate using his/her fork.

A guest does not drink wine in one swallow.

He /She does not rest the forks and knives on the table but on the special utensils.

He/She does not spills wine or sauce on the tablecloth and napkin.

He/she is always careful with his/her words and manners.

After the meal the guest goes to the coffee room.

When its time to leave, a guest thanks the hosts for their hospitality.

1 During this period the Greek population was heterogenous (Greek, Hebrew in Northern Greece, Greek, Italian in Dodecanesse, Greek, Turkish Cretan in Crete etc.) and the upper social class had cosmopolitan character.

Tag: table manners

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• Street food provides an important income and is a source of cheap and tasty food. In Greece, it made its appearance in the 6th century BC with the development of cities. Lentil soup was available in the Greek ‘agora’, however eating while wandering around the market was not appropriate.
• Ιn Byzantium street food trade became very large. Big cities, specifically Constantinoupolis (modern Istanbul) offered street food to a huge influx of workmen, merchants, immigrants, foreign soldiers and pilgrims. Among the goods the street food sellers offered, were roasted chicken, sausages, baked carrots, roasted chickpeas, dried raisins, fresh fruits, pasteli and other sesame sweets, small cakes etc.
• Much of Ottoman Istanbul’s cultural and culinary heritage is result of its being a capital of Byzantine Empire. Street food was still there for those not very lucky to be able to get lunch at home. Cappadocians, Albanians, Romioi, Armenians and immigrants from Epirus sold tasty fast foods. Among them a type of sandwich called arnaout-tzieri, which was consisted of a piece of bread, stuffed with fried liver (tzieri), parsley, onion and beans ala piaz, became very popular.
• The fried liver was a familiar street snack in Crete until 1930.
• Today, despite the changing of eating habits and places, street food remains very popular in both countries. The crucial factors for the selection of street foods seem to be the taste, quality and freshness. Boiled or roasted corn, ice cream, chestnuts, pies, Greek gyros and its Turkish equivalent doner kebab, souvlaki etc. are among the favorite street delicacies.
• Throughout Greece and Turkey, a ring of bread covered with sesame seeds is sold at street corners and in most bakeries. Children eat it in school breaks, people on their way to work, or after work on their way home. This ring of bread that is called simit in Turkey and koulouri or simiti in Greece is probably both countries’ most popular snack. 
• Greek word σιμίτι simiti derives from turkish simit which comes from the arabic semiz, a loan from the greek word σεμίδαλις semidalis = semolina, hard/durum wheat.    Kουλούρι koulouri derives from the middle age word  koulouri(o)n, diminutive of kouloura < ancient Greek kollyra = the circular bread which was eaten by the slaves.
• According to Evliya Celebi, an Ottoman traveler and writer of 17th century, in mid-16th century  70 simit bakeries, employing about 300 bakers, existed in Istanbul.
• The Minor Asian Greeks refugees brought with them their dialects, their cultural tradition and an extraordinarily rich culinary tradition that was an amalgamation of Byzantine, Ottoman and urban French cuisine. When they moved to Thessaloniki they brought, among others, the recipe of simiti. That’s why the simiti is also called koulouri Thessalonikis.
• However in Ottoman occupied Grete simiti was already a street food.

SIMITI or KOULOURI 

all-purpose flour, as much needed

50g melted butter

50ml olive oil

200ml water

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of sugar

1 beaten egg

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbs petimezi (grape syrup)

2 - 3 cups sesame seeds

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Beat the egg and add the sugar, milk, water, olive oil and melted butter. Add and fold in the flour. Knead at least 15 minutes by hand until the dough is soft. Divide dough into small balls and roll them into 20-centimeter long ropes. Form the ropes into circles and place them on a greased cooking sheet. Let rest 1 hour. Dissolve the petimezi in 1 cup water. Put the sesame seeds in another bowl. Dip each simiti in petimezi water first, then in the sesame seeds. Put it back on the baking sheet and let rest for 30 minutes. Cook them for approximately 30 minutes at about 175 degree Celsius, until the simiti have a rich golden brown color.

Tags: street food street sellers  koulouria simitia

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Summer time and defintely time for a flavorful and refreshing nonalcoholic drink!

Canelada, a cinnamon beverage (canela = cinnamon in Greek), is drunk in Crete and Aegean islands and served with lots of ice.

4 l. water

8-9 cinnamon sticks

1 k. sugar

In a large sauce pan combine sugar, water and cinnamon sticks. Cook until thickened, approximately 20 minutes. Discard the cinnamon and let the syrup cool before putting it in bottles.

For each serving combine cinnamon syrup with cold water. Add ice and serve.

6 Comments »

• The custom of tea drinking was brought to Europe by Dutch and Portuguese traders in the 17th century and rapidly spread to Ottoman Empire. However in Ottoman occupied Greece it never became popular. Its high price, the dominance of herbal teas and infusions and the growth of coffee consumption excluded tea from the list of favorite nonalcoholic drinks.

• When Greece escaped from Ottoman rule the drinking of tea was put in a context of luxurious goods. The cookbooks of the late 19th and early 20th century, which had been written for the new emerging middle class, provided detailed instructions for the preparation, serving and drinking tea. Thus tea became an opportunity to practice good manners and civility.
• If the drinking of tea in upper - class establishments was agreeable relaxation, a social event, a chance of gossip, even an opportunity for the promotion of charity, among highly educated Greeks was blended with political, philosophical and literary talks.
• The lower classes and the very poor used it as a panacea for high-fever diseases, dysenteria or as drink for old people.
• What should be served for an early 20th century Greek tea party? Cakes, cookies, fresh bread, rusks, butter and marmalade.
• The old cookbooks mention that someone should never dip a piece of buttered bread into his tea.

SESAME COOKIES

 1 cup olive oil

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 cups orange juice

2 tb cognac

1 tb baking powder

flour as much as needed

1 cup sesame seeds

cold water

Mix the flour and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside.

Cream the olive oil and sugar together.

Add congac, the orange juice and 1/3 cup sesame seeds. Mix well.

Add the flour and mix well. Preheat the oven to 375 F and oil a baking sheet.

Place the dough on a floured surface and knead until smooth.

Take small amounts of dough and shape into little fingers.

Dip each cookie into the cold water and then roll in sesame seeds until well coated.

Place on baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until golden.

Let cool on a rack.

(Er. Yogaraki, Arta 1930)

This is my entry for Spring Tea Party hosted by The Skinny Gourmet.

17 Comments »

In last years many Greek restaurants offer olive paste and bread as a meze before the ordered meal. The paste is usually so salty and sharp that can destroy the palate. However, it could easily be a wonderful relish if was prepared with care.

Sometimes confused with tapenade, olive paste is made with olives and often has additions that include capers, peppers, dried tomatoes, garlic, almonds, brandy etc. This spread has Mediterranean flavour and ancient origin.

Romans used to make an olive relish called epityrum, which original recipe is found in the “De Agricultura”, a farming manual written by Cato in around 160 BC. This is the Latin text: Epityrum album, nigrum, uariumque sic facto: ex oleis albis, nigris, uariisque nuculeos eicito; sic condito; concidito ipsas, addito oleum, acetum, coriandrum, cuminum, feniculum,rutam, mentam; in orculam condito: oleum supra siet. Ita utitor.

The English translation is the following: Make green, black or varicolored epityrum like this. Pit the green, black or varicolored olives; season as follows; chop them, add oil, vinegar, coriander, cumin, fennel, rue, mint; Put them in a jar, with olive oil on top. Use them like this.

Columella, a Roman writer of 1st century A.D. suggested in his Work on Farming (De Re Rustica 2, 49, 9) that the olives should be seasoned with salt, lentiscus, rue and fennel.

Epityrum is a Greek word meaning “over cheese”. Varro (De lingua Latina 7, 86) described it as a specialty of Sicilian origin. Sicily was colonized by Greeks from 8th century B.C. and was an important part or Magna Graecia. Moreover, Callimachus Cyrenaios (3rd B.C), a poet of Greek- Libyan origin, provides the information that olives give olive oil, table olives and stemphyla. Stempyla is an ancient Greek word used for the remains of the pressings of wine or the remaining mass of olives after having pressed for oil. A Byzantine writer mentioned that ancient Greeks ate the stempyla mixed with olive oil.

The truth is that whichever is the origin of the olive paste is of no real importance for the consumer. It is Mediterranean in origin, Greeks and Romans ate it probably together with cheese, was most used during Roman time and can be a delicious spread or dip.

1/4 cup black pitted olives (medium chop)

1/4 cup green pitted olives (medium chop)

2 tb olive oil

2/3 tb red wine vinegar

1 tsp fennel (chopped fine)

1 tsp fresh coriander leaves (chopped fine)

1/4 t cumin (powder)

1 pinch sprig rue (chopped fine)

3 mint leaves (chopped fine)

olive oil to cover

In a bowl dress olives with oil and vinegar. Add the herbs. Toss ingredients together. Add more vinegar if needed. Serve it with fresh hot bread or vegetables or cheese. It is unique if served on the top of a fine, soft fresh goat cheese.

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