Cyprus is the Island of love and Venus! You will find low fat and delicious foods..here is one of them! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I love cooking! But what I mostly know to cook is Greek foods! Greek food is what I've being eating since I was born. There are so many delicious Greek recipes out there but here today I will only write 1 that I really enjoy doing and eating. I hope that some of you had the chance to taste a Greek food and if you had please write a comment telling me what have you tried.
A small summary about Cypriot cuisine. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "The love passes from the stomach". Acquaintance the popular utterance that the reality - well or badly - does not deny.
Lets begin with salad! Greek salads include all kinds of vegetables, enriched with coliander, olives, and feta cheese. Continuity … everything. The Cypriot souvlaki in the pitta bread with salad and sieftalia is delicious! With your dinner you should try the fantastic Cypriot wine. Wines dry, sweet, aromatic… And when you finish your main course do not forget to enjoy also a Cypriot pastry. I will propose the "fingers" (small pancakes with walnuts, almonds and honey), with koymantaria (the sweet red wine that preferred the Rihardos the Leontokardos).
Anyone familiar with this? Don't think that the Greek and Cypriot souvlaki are the same or the turkey one, they are completely different, ok somehow the same but the taste of the Cypriot souvlaki is lovely!!! You should try it if you haven't.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dolmades (Koupepia as it's said in Greek language) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Serves: 6 servings
What do you need? --------------------------- 50 vine leaves 100-150 grams minced pork 3 quarters cups olive oil 1 small onion minced Parsley minced 1 quarter tea spoon pepper Mint (optional) - I don't put it anyway! 1 cup rice (1 φλυτζάνι του καφέ) 1 tsp1 tomato sauce or 2 cups tomato (polto) 1 - 2 tblsp lemon juice 1 cup warm water 1 tsp salt
How to do --------------- 1.Wash the vine leaves and put them in warm water to get soft. The color will change and will go darker than they are, but don't worry!
2.Put the olive oil in a pan to warm and lightly cook the minced onion. Add the minced ground pork and let it until it is lightly cooked. Add the rice, pepper, parsley, mint, tomato sauce mixed in water, and rice. Leave them to cook for 3-5 minutes and mix occasionally.
3.When the mixture cools, put one teaspoon of filling on each grape leaves and wrap them up. Be careful as some leaves might be bigger or smaller than others so sometimes you might need to fill them with less or more than one teaspoon.
4.Put all the dolmades in a 4-quart pot. If there is any remaining filling place it on top of the dolmades. Place a small plate on top of them to keep them in place and add the water and lemon juice. Sometimes if you like you can also all some chicken stock with water or some tomatoes juice! It makes them even more delicious.
5.Let them cook on low heat for about half an hour. You can also put them in the oven for about an hour. Don't forget to check them though!
When your dolmades are ready you can eat them with salad and potatoes. You can have the potatoes boiled or fried, it depends how you like them!
You can see the pictures how to wrap them up. Source for the pictures www.mediterrasian.com
Some notes for you ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A. If you are vegetarian you can add more rice and leave the minced pork out! Cypriots eat the dolmades/koupepia without minced pork in periods where they are on feast [-nistia-] (I am not sure what it's called in English but I think it's feast), especially during the 7 weeks before the Easter.
B. You can also cook them in a Pyrex.
What do I do with the dolmades? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have seen my mum cooking the dolmades and I learned the recipe from her. What we do is, after we finish the dolmades we put them in a Pyrex and on the top we don't put a plate but sliced potatoes with some salt! And that makes the potatoes delicious as they somehow taste like the koupepia!!! Sometimes we use a big Pyrex and half of it is dolmades and the other half vegetables like potatoes, carrots etc and we make a delicious food! With vegetables and dolmades we don't have to eat salad ;)
When can you cook dolmades and where can you find them - considering you leave in Cyprus) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ They are for every occasion! You can make them for lunch, for dinner, even for parties! They can be considered as a snack in parties if you think about it. You will find them at Greek weddings, christenings, engagements etc.
To try or not? ~~~~~~~~~~~ if you can find the vine leaves try them!!! If you succeed the first time they will be delicious! Good luck!
P.S: if you like to learn about more greek recipies just ask for it and i will do my best.
Dora x
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