Authentic Greek Recipes

Greek Pitta Bread

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:50:00 +0000

How to make your own pitta bread. Pitta Bread can be found in shops all over the world, but it's so much nicer (and cheaper) to make your own! Try this recipe and use the Pitta bread with whatever you want - at the bottom you can see a picture of Greek Souvlaki with pitta bread, just follow the link to go to the recipe.

This recipe is for 10 pittas. Any that you want to keep for later can easily be wrapped in cling film and kept in the fridge for around a week. You can also keep them in the same way in your freezer.

Ingredients

½ kg plain white flour suitable for bread

40g fresh yeast

80ml olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

Preparation

Dissolve the yeast in a cup of tepid water.

Take 1 cup of the flour and in a bowl, mix it well with the dissolved yeast and the sugar.

Cover the bowl with a cloth and set aside in a warm place for 10-15 minutes.

Put the rest of the flour in a larger bowl, along with the salt and oil.

Add the yeast mixture, which should have bubbles and be double its original size.

Add enough tepid water to make a pliable, non-sticky dough.

Knead very well for at least 10 minutes on a flat surface.

Put the dough in a bowl and cover it with cling film and a cloth on top of that.

Set aside in a warm place for at least 1 hour until it has doubled in size.

Gently cut the dough into 10 equal pieces.

Gently roll out the pieces into circular shapes, about 20cm in diameter.

Brush the surface of a non-stick frying pan with some olive oil and warm the pan.

Yake one of the 10 pittas and make small indentations with a fork all over on both sides.

Keeping the pan at a moderate heat, place the pitta in it and leave it for approx. 2 minutes until it starts bubbling and then turn it over and repeat for the other side.

Repeat this process for each of the remaining pittas.

Souvlaki With Pitta Bread

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Bouyourdi

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 09:54:00 +0000

This is a tasty appetiser or side dish - very easy to prepare! The recipe is for 4 people and if you want to serve it in one ceramic dish, it should be about 20 - 25 cm diameter and 5 cm high. Alternatively you can split it into 2 bowls, like the one in the photo, or even serve it in small individual ceramic bowls.

Ingredients

6 medium size ripe tomatoes

300g feta cheese

1 tbsp finely chopped red chilli

4 tbsp olive oil

Salt

Preparation

Cut the tomatoes into 1cm slices.

Put 1 tbsp olive oil in the ceramic bowl(s).

Put a layer of tomatoes on top of the oil.

Sprinkle a little salt, but not too much as the feta is salty.

Spread 1/3 of the feta crumbled on top.

Sprinkle 1/3 of the chilli on top.

Add 1 tbsp olive oil and add the tomatoes, salt, feta and chilli as before.

Add another tbsp of olive oil and once more add layers of tomato, feta and chilli.

Add the final tbsp of olive oil on top.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 30 – 40 minutes.

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Chicken Lemonato

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:57:00 +0000

This is a simple and traditional Greek recipe for preparing chicken. It's very popular and is also a favourite with the kids! This recipe serves 4.

Ingredients

For the chicken

2 chicken legs

2 chicken breasts

60ml olive oil

Juice from 1 large lemon

4 large garlic cloves sliced

1 full tbsp flour

1 level tbsp oregano

120ml warm water

Salt and pepper to taste

For the rice

1 cup (approx 250g) pilau rice

2 cups water

50g butter

Preparation

Chicken

Put the oil in a shallow pan and heat.

Add the 4 chicken portions and fry for 5 minutes on each side.

Add the garlic and fry for another 1 minute, to add aroma.

Add the water, oregano, salt and pepper.

Bring to the boil and then simmer for 45 minutes.

After it has simmered, dissolve the flour in the lemon juice and 2 tbsp water.

Add this flour and lemon mixture to the pan and mix it into the liquid.

Simmer for another 2-3 minutes.

Rice

While the chicken is simmering for the 45 minutes, you can prepare the rice.

Put the rice, water, butter and some salt to taste in a pan and bring to the boil.

Stir once just to dissolve the butter and then cover the pan, lower the heat to minimum and simmer for 15 minutes without removing the lid.

The water should now be absorbed. Remove the lid, cover with kitchen paper or a clean cloth/towel and put the lid back on until you serve it with the chicken.

You can pour some of the liquid from the chicken pan on top of each serving of rice (see photo).

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek New Year Cake (Vassilopita)

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 13:15:00 +0000

Well, we've just made our New Year Cake - Vassilopita - and you can see it in the photo. We've previously posted the recipe to make the cake and you can see it here.

It's a tradition here to smash a pomegranate for luck at New Year and we've made the 2012 on the top of the cake with pomegranate seeds, which you may be able to see from the photo. Hopefully, it will bring some luck!

Anyway, we'd like to wish you all a wonderful 2012!

Again, check out the recipe here.

Top 10 Greek Recipes 2011

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:41:00 +0000

We're coming up to the end of the year and we would like to thank all of you for visiting our blog and looking at the recipes. We decided to have a look and see which were the most popular this year - in other words, which were viewed the most often by you, the readers.

Below is the list with the Top 10 for 2011 with the number of times they've been viewed this year. Just click on the link to go to the recipes.

LAMB KLEFTIKO - 57,321 Views

PASTICHIO - 19,357 Views

CHEESE PIE (TIROPITA) - 18,069 Views

VEGETARIAN MOUSSAKA - 17,338 Views

TZATZIKI - 13,412 Views

DOLMADES (STUFFED VINE LEAVES) - 12,003 Views

TIROKAFTERI (SPICY CHEESE DIP) - 9,804 Views

FASOLAKIA (GREEN RUNNER BEANS) - 8,925 Views

YOUVETSI - 7,592 Views

SPANAKOPITA (SPINACH PIE) - 6,798 Views

Many thanks once again and we hope you've enjoyed any of the recipes that you have tried!

Greek Christmas Bread (Christopsomo)

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 16:51:00 +0000

This is a traditional bread eaten at Christmas and right up to New Year. The name Christopsomo means Christ's Bread. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and peace and happiness in 2012!

Don't forget to check out our other recipes for Greek Christmas sweets - Melomakarona and Kourabiedes.

Ingredients

1 kg all purpose flour

40g fresh yeast

50g butter

60 ml lukewarm water

60 ml lukewarm milk

1 egg white

1 level tbsp salt

1 level tbsp sugar

1 level tbsp anise

½ tsp mastic powder

2 tbsp sesame seeds

Preparation

Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water.

Melt the butter and add the milk to it and then add the salt, sugar, anise and mastic powder.

Put the flour in a large mixing bowl, shaping a hole in the middle, where you put the dissolved yeast and mix it into the flour with a wooden spoon.

Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place for 15 minutes.

Remove the cloth and add the butter mixture, mixing it in.

Add enough tepid water to make a pliable but firm dough and knead the mixture very well for at least 10 minutes.

Cover the bowl and leave it in a warm place for about 1 hour.

Use a round oven dish 30cm in diameter and 4-5cm high, with greaseproof paper on the bottom.

Before you put the dough in the oven dish, remove enough to make 2 narrow strips to place across the top like a cross. (see photo)

Place the dough in the oven dish, so that it fills it and is flat on top. Add the 2 narrow strips like a cross on top, with their ends going down under the dough in order not to become ‘unstuck’.

Leave in a warm place, covered, for about 1 hour, until it rises to about twice its size.

Put the egg white in a small bowl and beat with about 1 tbsp water.

Brush the top of the dough evenly with this egg white mixture.

Sprinkle the sesame seeds evenly on top.

Bake in a preheated oven at 220 degrees Celsius for about 1 hour, until it’s golden brown.

Eat and Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Greek Christmas Song

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:23:00 +0000

This is a lovely Greek Christmas song that we thought you might like to listen to.

Happy Holidays!

Santorini - World's Best Island (BBC)

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 09:26:00 +0000

Image: Wikipedia Commons

On its website the BBC has just declared the Greek island of Santorini the World's Best Island.. They asked readers to vote in their annual Travel & Leisure World's Best survey and Santorini came out on top.

They stated, "Here, everything is brighter: the whitewashed cube-shaped houses, the lapis lazuli sea, and the sunsets that light up the caldera. So it seems about time that Santorini captured the No. 1 island title for the first time in World’s Best Awards history."

Santorini was placed ahead of Bali - Indonesia, Cape Breton - Canada, Boracay - Philippines and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

One of the specialities of Santorini is Tomato Fritters (Domatokeftedes). They are traditionally made with Santorini tomatoes, but if these are unobtainable, then any other tomato is fine. They are especially delicious with Tzatziki and Greek Salad!

For the recipe go here.

3.2 Metre Basil Plant In Greece - Tallest Ever?

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 09:35:00 +0000

Image: Wikipedia Commons

Owners of a 3.2 metre Basil plant in Ierapetra on the Greek island of Crete are claiming that it should go into the Guinness Book of Records.

Mrs Anastasia Grigoraki claims that her basil has been helped by the rich soil and the fact that it is sheltered from the wind by the blocks of flats around it. The Guinness record for a basil plant stands at 2.10 metres at the moment, but Mrs Grigoraki's plant - which has been growing for 10 months, and is still growing - is much taller than that.

You can see the height of the plant in the photo below, which is from the online Crete newspaper Nea Kriti. If you can read Greek, then do follow the link!

Basil was first introduced to Greece about 4000 years ago, when Alexander the Great brought it back from India. You can read our post about Basil here.

All I can say is there must be a wonderful aroma coming from that huge plant!

Image: Nea Kriti

Authentic Greek Recipes - The Google+ Page

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 12:03:00 +0000

Authentic Greek Recipes

on Google+

We're happy to let you know that we now have our own Brand Page - Authentic Greek Recipes - on Google Plus. If you are on Google Plus, then click on the image above to go to the Page and follow us.

See you there!

Greek Spinach Pies (Spanakopitakia) With Pine Nuts (Koukounares)

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:04:00 +0000

These little spinach pies are delicious little 'nibbles' which you can have either as part of a buffet, a side dish or part of a light lunch. Easy to make and delicious!

Ingredients

½ kg spinach

2 cloves garlic crushed

2 tbsp pine nuts

2 tbsp butter

2 sheets filo pastry

2-3 hot red peppers chopped

1 tbsp butter melted and mixed with 1 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Put the spinach with ½ tsp salt in a pan (no water) at a moderate heat and stir until the liquid comes out and it becomes tender. (approx. 5 minutes)

Drain the spinach and chop finely.

In a small frying pan put the 1 tbsp butter at a moderate heat and add the pine nuts. Stir for 1-2 minutes.

Remove quickly from the heat before the pine nuts turn black, remove the pine nuts and place on kitchen paper.

In a shallow pan put the other 1 tbsp butter and heat.

Add the peppers and garlic and mix.

Add the spinach and stir.

Add salt and pepper to taste and mix for about 1 minute until the liquid is absorbed.

Add the pine nuts and remove from heat. Place in a bowl and set aside.

When the mixture has cooled, brush 1 sheet of filo pastry with butter and score it (not cut) lengthwise so that you have 4 long strips and then once across the width in the middle. You have now ‘scored’ 8 sections of pastry.

Using half of the spinach mixture, place approx. 1 tbsp on each of the 8 sections – place them at the outside edge of each section.

Fold each section into a triangle (see photo) and place in a buttered shallow oven dish.

Repeat this process with the other sheet of filo pastry and the remaining spinach mixture and add them to the others in the oven dish.

Place in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for approx. 40 minutes, until they turn golden brown.

Remove twice before the 40 minutes is up, brush with the melted butter and olive oil mixture and put back in the oven.

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Vegetarian Pastichio

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:35:00 +0000

We have already posted the recipe for Pastichio - one of people's favourite Greek dishes - here. This is a recipe for the vegetarian version. Whether you're a vegetarian or not, I think you'll find this dish delicious. It has a wonderful sauce!

Ingredients

½ kg pasta size 10(hollow pasta)

½ kg eggplants cut into small cubes

250g button mushrooms chopped

2 large onions roughly grated

1 or 2 hot red peppers chopped

250g tomatoes roughly grated

1 tsp tomato paste

Bunch of fresh basil chopped

200ml sunflower oil

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp olive oil (for the pasta)

50g butter

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

Salt to taste

For the Béchamel

1 litre fresh milk

250g butter

1 cup all-purpose flour

150g grated parmesan cheese

Preparation

Sauce

Put the eggplant cubes in a bowl in enough salty water to cover them. Cover with a plate and set aside for an hour.

Put the sunflower oil in a large frying pan and when it’s very hot add the mushrooms.

When they have turned a golden colour, remove with a draining spoon and place on kitchen paper to absorb the oil.

Place half of the eggplant cubes in the oil and when they turn a golden colour, remove with a draining spoon and place on kitchen paper to absorb the oil. Repeat with the remaining eggplant cubes. (We don’t put them all in together as this could reduce the temperature of the oil)

Remove the sunflower oil, clean the pan and add the 2 tbsp olive oil in its place.

When the oil is hot, add the onions and chopped red peppers and stir for 2-3 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and the tomato paste along with 60ml water and stir for about 10 minutes until most of the water has been absorbed.

Add the mushrooms and eggplants and bring to the boil for about 2-3 minutes.

Add the basil, remove from the heat and set aside.

Pasta

Put the pasta in a pan with plenty of boiling water, along with the 1 tsp of olive oil.

When the pasta is ready, drain it and put it in a large bowl along with the butter and nutmeg.

Béchamel

In a heavy-bottomed pan gently heat the butter until it melts.

Add the flour and stir continuously.

Add half of the milk and continue to stir with a whisk.

When the mixture starts to thicken, add the rest of the milk whilst stirring continuously.

When it starts to thicken again, lower the temperature to the minimum and add the grated cheese.

Add 2 large spoonfuls of béchamel to the pasta and mix in.

In a large oven dish (approx. 35cm long and 5cm deep) place half of the pasta in a layer to cover the bottom of the dish.

Spread all of the sauce on top of this layer.

Place the remaining pasta in a layer on top of this.

Spread the béchamel on top.

Place in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for approx. 45 minutes until it turns golden brown.

When you remove from the oven, leave for about an hour before cutting into portions so that it is firmer.

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Pumpkin Pie For Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:28:00 +0000

We don't celebrate Halloween in Greece, but if you're in a country where they do, these small pumpkin pies (Kolokithopita) will make a delicious addition to your celebrations! Kids love them too! Just click on the link below to go to the recipe.

Greek Pumpkin Pie

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Beetroot And Yoghurt Salad

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:04:00 +0000

This is a very easily prepared recipe. It's simple, light and delicious and we're sure you'll love it!

Ingredients

½ kg beetroot

250g Greek strained yoghurt

2 cloves garlic crushed

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp vinegar

2 tbsp quartered walnuts

1 tbsp finely chopped chives

Salt to taste

Preparation

Remove the leaves and clean the beetroots without removing the skins and boil in salted water for approx. 1 hr or until they are tender.

Put in a colander under cold water and remove the skins.

Slice the beetroot and arrange on a dish.

Beat the yoghurt well in a bowl with the oil, vinegar, garlic and salt.

Spread the yoghurt mixture over the beetroot.

Garnish with the walnuts and chives.

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Herbs And Spices - Marjoram (Mantzourana)

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:19:00 +0000

Image: Wikipedia Commons

Marjoram - called Mantzourana in Greek - is a shrub with sweet pine and citrus flavours. Indigenous to the Mediterranean area, it can be used fresh or dry. It is similar to oregano, but milder and slightly sweeter.

It can be used with most meat dishes as well as fish and tomato dishes and salad dressings.

Although not certain, it is most probable that marjoram originated in Greece. In Ancient Greece it was planted on the graves of beloved ones in order that they would enjoy eternal peace and happiness. Hippocrates also used it medicinally.

Ancient Greeks also made head wreaths from marjoram for wedding couples, symbolising love, honour and happiness.

7 Greek Recipes With Eggplants (Melitzanes)

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 09:08:00 +0000

Image: Wikipedia Commons

Eggplants - Melitzanes - are very popular in Greece, so I've put together a list of 7 popular recipes using them. To go to the recipes, just click on the names.

EGGPLANT DIP (MELITZANOSALATA)

This is one of my favourites! Smooth and tangy. It's traditionally made with Greek strained yoghurt but can also be made with mayonnaise instead. Try both ways and see which you prefer - with mayonnaise it has a slightly thicker, richer taste.

A side dish which can be served with any meat, fish or vegetable dish.

EGGPLANT ROLLS (BOOREKAKIA)

These are delicious little rolls that you can have as a side dish or as part of a buffet.

EGGPLANT FRITTERS (MELITZANOKEFTEDES)

This is a delicious meze! You can have it as an accompaniment to a meal, as a meze - which tastes wonderful with Tzatziki - or as part of a buffet.

VEGETARIAN MOUSSAKA

Delicious! Many people who are not vegetarian have said that they actually prefer it to the "normal" moussaka, which is made with meat and not mushrooms.

BRIAM

This can be eaten hot or cold and is delicious when accompanied by a large slice of Feta cheese!

POLITIKO BRIAM

This recipe is called 'Politiko' Briam from the name 'Poli' which is what Greeks call Constantinopolis, and 'Politiko' recipes are from the Greeks who used to live there. The basic difference between this and ordinary Briam is the addition of Bechamel sauce on top.

EGGPLANT PAPOUTSAKIA

These are called Papoutsakia - which means 'little shoes' in Greek - because they are shaped like little shoes.

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Chicken With Peppers, Olives And Hilopites

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:22:00 +0000

This is a simple Greek recipe often prepared in the villages. Along with the green peppers and olives, the chicken is also served with hilopites. Hilopites are a kind of egg noodle widely available in Greece, which can either be small squares or ribbons (see photo). If they are not available where you live, then tagiatelli is a suitable alternative.

The photo shows leg of chicken, but obviously it can also be breast, depending on people's preferences. Kids love this dish, by the way!

Ingredients

1 free-range chicken cut into portions

½ kg hilopites (or tagiatelli)

3 green peppers sliced

2 large onions finely chopped

1 kg tomatoes peeled and grated

10 stone-less olives

120 ml olive oil

60 ml red wine

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

2 tbsp parsley finely chopped

½ tsp thyme

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Put the oil in a wide, shallow pan and fry the chicken portions on both sides – approx. 4 minutes each side until it colours.

Add the red wine, salt and pepper and leave for 2-3 mnutes.

Add the onions, garlic, parsley, bay leaf and thyme and stir for 2-3 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and peppers and mix them in.

Cover the pan, lower the heat and simmer for 1½ - 2 hrs – until the chicken is tender. Add the olives approx. 5-10 minutes before the end.

In the meantime, boil the hilopites (or tagiatelli) in salted water just as you would prepare spaghetti or any other pasta. Add butter when they are ready.

Serve the chicken mixture on top of the hilopites.

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Souvlaki

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 12:32:00 +0000

Here we have the recipe for Greek souvlaki - the plural is souvlakia. This can be eaten as a snack or as a filling lunch or supper. It's also very popular with the kids!
The normal accompaniments to the meat are tomato, onion, french fries and tzatziki. So in addition to the recipe below, you will need to have prepared tzatziki beforehand (see the recipe here) and at some point to prepare some french fries.

Ingredients

1 kg shoulder of pork (boneless) cut into cubes

10 pita breads

1 large tomato finely sliced

1 onion finely sliced and kept in a bowl with salted water

Juice from 1 lemon

180 ml olive oil

1 tsp salt and 1 tsp oregano mixed in a small bowl

½ tsp salt

½ tsp oregano

Salt and pepper

10 thin wooden skewers

Preparation

Fix the pork cubes onto the skewers.

Place them in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper and then immerse in 60 ml of the oil.

Put in the fridge for approx. 1 hour.

Remove from the bowl and grill on both sides on a barbecue or in the grill of the cooker.

Beat the remaining olive oil (setting aside 3 tbsp before you do so) in a bowl with the lemon juice.

Dip the souvlakia in this mixture and then place on a large dish or platter.

Sprinkle them with the salt and oregano mixture.

Cover them with aluminium foil to keep them warm while you prepare the pita breads.

Place the 3 tbsp oil you set aside earlier in a bowl, add the ½ tsp oregano and ½ tsp salt and stir.

Brush each pita bread with this and put under the grill. Turn over and brush the other side and grill.

Don’t leave the bread under the grill too long as it shouldn’t become hard. Just enough to warm it.

On a table or work surface put the souvlakia, pita breads, tomatoes, onions, French fries and tzatziki.

Remove the pork cubes from the skewer and place down the middle of the pita bread.

Depending on what each person wants, add tomatoes, onions, French fries and tzatziki.

Fold the pita bread around the ingredients and wrap the bottom half with greaseproof paper or aluminium foil. (See photo at top)

An alternative is to get larger pork cubes and when you put them on the skewers add small slices of green, red and yellow peppers in between the cubes. You prepare in the same way, but this is not served with pita bread, but eaten straight from the skewer.

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Herbs And Spices - Wild Fennel (Maratho)

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 11:46:00 +0000

Image: Wikipedia Commons

Continuing our series of posts about Greek herbs and spices, let's take a look at wild fennel or maratho as it is called in Greek.

Fennel is used especially in Greek pies - pites - but is also used to flavour meat, seafood and vegetable dishes. It is similar in taste and aroma to anise, but is quite different. It is a perennial herb, with feathery leaves and quite similar in appearance to dill.

Origins: One version suggests that the ancient Greeks called the herb maratho from the Greek word maraino (grow thin). It was believed that maratho was conducive to strength, courage and a long life.

Another suggestion is that it was named maratho to commemorate the battle of Marathon (490 BC), which was fought against the Persians in a field of fennel. The word Marathon means 'place of fennel'.

In Greek mythology, the stalk of a fennel plant was used by Prometheus to steal fire from the gods and the Bacchanalian wands of the god Dionysus and his followers were said to have come from the giant fennel.

Some Examples of Greek Pies with Fennel

These are some examples of Greek Pies (Pites) which use fennel. Just click on the links to go to the recipes.

Spinach Pie (Spanakopita)

Zucchini Pie (Kolokithopita)

Mince and Leek Pie (Prasopita me Kima)

Greek Fanouropita Cake for Agios (Saint) Fanourios Day

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 13:29:00 +0000

Yet again, it's Agios (St.) Fanourios Day and people have been coming to the site after searching for the Fanouropita recipe, which is the cake that is traditionally eaten today.

You just need to click here to get the recipe - enjoy!

How To Make Corfu Tzitzibira (Ginger Beer)

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:08:00 +0000

This is the recipe for Corfu Tzitzibira. When the British were on the island of Corfu in the first half of the 19th century, one of the things they introduced was ginger beer. After they left, it remained a traditional drink here and the name became tzitzibira.

It's a delightfully refreshing drink in the hot summer and also extremely healthy. Below is the recipe to produce 5 litres of tzitzibira - if you need to convert this to gallons and pints, then please go to the bottom of the page, where you'll find a Metric Converter.

You will need to use bottles that are either hard plastic or glass, with tightly sealing screw tops. If the bottles are light plastic, then they will expand during fermentation and will not be able to stand upright. Also, the bottles should preferrably be small - 200ml is ideal - as the larger they are, the fizzier they are when opened.

The fermentation process happens due to the sultana raisins that are included in the recipe.

Ingredients

5 litres water

900g sugar

150g ginger root

500g lemon juice

50g lemon flesh from inside of lemons

12 sultana raisins

Preparation

Peel the ginger and along with about ½ cup of water from the 5 litres grind well in the blender.

Heat 1½ cup of water from the 5 litres until it is lukewarm and melt the sugar in it.

In a heavy plastic or glass container (over 5 litres capacity) with a tightly-screwing lid put the water and the ginger, melted sugar, lemon juice, lemon flesh and sultanas.

Stir well and close the lid tightly.

Leave this for 34 hours, and during this period, unscrew the lid, stir well, and screw the lid back on 3-4 times.

At the end of the 34 hours, strain the liquid and transfer it into the bottles, making sure that you don’t fill them more than 3/5 full. Close the bottles tightly.

As a control, take a small bottle made of light plastic (e.g. a small water bottle) and fill it up to 3/5 full. This will expand with the fermentation and show you that it is ready.

Leave the bottles for 7 days at room temperature without moving or shaking them. At the end of this time fermentation will have taken place and the control bottle will have expanded fully as an indication.

Put the bottles into the fridge and they are ready to serve. They can stay in the fridge for 3 months.

Drink and Enjoy!

Test Your Knowledge Of Greece

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 11:46:00 +0000

Another quiz for you! This time you have a chance to test some of your general knowledge of Greece. Good luck!

Quizzes by Quibblo.com | SnapApp Quiz Apps

Oxfam Interactive Map Shows Global Food Price Crisis

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:48:00 +0000

Oxfam published an interactive map today showing how poor communities across the world are being hurt by high and volatile food prices. They call it the food price pressure points map.

Since late 2010 food prices have been approaching an all time high. sending tens of millions of people into poverty. The number of people without enough to eat is again rising and could soon again top one billion.

The map below shows the global pressure points, has a separate page with statistics, another with photos and finally a link to Oxfam's GROW campaign.

Now You Can Listen To Greek Recipes As Well As Read Them!

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 09:14:00 +0000

You may have noticed that we now have a button with 'listennow' at the top of each post. Clicking on this button enables you to listen to the post as well as read it. You can now go to any recipe you wish and listen to it. This could be especially useful to the visually impaired.

As well as this, you can also subscribe to the podcasts and listen to the recipes on the go on your iPod or MP3 player. The text content is also embedded into the audio file and can be viewed through the lyrics option of your iPod and on some other mp3 players.

To subscribe to the podcasts, just click on the button on the right sidebar of the blog - Subscribe To My Podcast or go directly here.

I have just started using this and hope that it can be a useful addition, although I am wondering about the slightly 'robotic' quality of the voice. However, I would appreciate any feedback you have about it - please let us know what you think. Do you think it is useful or not? What about the quality?

Happy Listening!

Google Plus Invitations For Food Bloggers

noreply@blogger.com (symposio) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 09:33:00 +0000

I joined Google + (Google's new social network, if you haven't heard) earlier this month, and have been gradually getting the hang of it. My initial impression is positive - it seems to be taking some elements from Facebook, some from Twitter and adding others of its own.

So far, people have been joining by invite only, but it is supposedly going to open up to the public in the next few days (if they consider that they are ready). However, I have just started a Foodies Circle in my account and would like to invite fellow food bloggers to join it.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join Google +, then just click on Contact Us at the top of the blog and send me your e-mail (preferrably gmail - you'll need it for Google + anyway) and the address of your food blog and I'll send you an invite and add you to my Foodies Circle.

If you are a food blogger and are already on Google +, then just click on Contact Us and let me know your name on Google + and I'll add you to the Circle (if you want).