Local recipes

“Gastronomy”

Revani: traditional recipe of Veria
The traditional recipe of Veria (www.veriahistory.gr).Scramble the eggs really well, pour semolina, sunflower oil, baking powder, yogurt and vanillin and scramble more to obtain a nice mixture. Pour the mixture into a baking pan (41.50 cm x 34.50 cm). Bake in preheated oven, for 40 min at 180°C. Syrup recipe: boil the syrup for 10 min. Let it cool down and pour it over baked revani. It is better to prepare the recipe a day before to let it cool down properly.
Fasoulodavas
this is one of the most favorite recipes in Makedonia and surely the most favorite food in Veria. Fasoulodavas is a delicious plate traditionally made of beans. In those cold winter days try it with some handmade “tsipouro”. First of all, brown the onions, place the beans which you have put to soak the previous evening and add some tomato sauce and water and boil. Then, pour the boiled beans with the sauce in an earthenware baking pan, add paprika, pepper, salt and olive-oil, stir well and place it in the oven. As soon as it is baked, serve in plates and garnish with hot green pepper.

Sarmadakia with parsley
Knead the minced meat together with all the ingredients except from the parsley; make small sarmadakia at the size of a big nut. Then, mince the parsley after you have washed it and dried it in a towel. Roll them in the finely-cut parsley, place them in a pan and add some warm water in it. Leave it to cook in low temperature and serve.
Koukouloto
slice the lamb meat in to small pieces. Brown the meat and the onions in butter adding some salt, pepper and cumin for a while. Place the omentum in a baking pan and place the meat; roll it and turn it over. Bake in preheated oven at 200οC until it acquires a baked colour while retaining the juices.
Zigouri meat with quinces
brown the lamb meat with some butter until it acquires the right colour. Slice the quinces and fry them in to the remaining butter. Place tha fried quinces in the pan together with the meat and pour a cup of hot water and a cup of sugar. Leave it to boil until the quinces get soft and there is not any water left.
Hasapiko
We put the lamb meat to boil and skim it well. Add salt and make it boil well. Chop the onions, the tomatoes and the peppers into small cubes and into the pan. Preheat some olive oil in a pan and brown the vegetables. Add some red and black pepper. When the meat has boiled and the vegetables are left with the oil place them into a earthen-made pot and into the oven to finish baking, with the oil left and prperly browned.
Pies
A major element of the gastronomy in the area. One may taste phyllo-pies with all kinds of fillings; vegan pies (filled with nettle, leeks etc), different kinds of cheese pies, meat-pies, rice-pies, zucchini-pies.
Meat pie
Boil the meat with the onions, the butter spicing it with salt and pepper. Make two plyllo layers; place one of them on a baking plate, pour the filling and then place the second phyllo on top. Bake in preheated oven, to 200°C (400o F)
Vlachiko
Frost the lamb meat with spices, baste and put it to bake on the grill adding a cup of water in a preheated oven at 160 °C until it gets soft. Leave it to cool down and the chop it into pieces and place in a small baking pan. Mix yogurt with eggs and flour and pour it on the lamb. Bake in a preheated oven 160°C until it gets the right baked colour. Brown the onions and the rice in olive oil adding water slowly until the rice is boiled. Add cinnamon, dried grapes and pine nuts and stir. Serve the lamb with the rice as garnish.
Traditional meat-pie
Slice the leeks into pieces and place them in water. In a deep frying pan, brown the leeks mixed with the minced meat using some olive oil. Pour a small cup of water and some laurel leaves and let the mixture boil for 5 min, in low temperature and covered. Pour the flour into a bowl and form a kind of a hole in the middle into which pout salt, water and olive oil. Stir well to mix it and then knead well into a tight pastry. Cover the pastry and let it rest in the fridge. When chilled take it out and cut it in two pieces and make a thin “phyllo” with the rolling pin. Spread the butter you have previously melted and roll the edges. Using the rolling pin, place it on the baking pan, pour the filling to cover the whole surface then make a second “phyllo” and unroll it on top. Chop the pastry in excess and the press the edge with your finger. Spread some butter once more and pour some seed oil. You may cut in pieces either now or when baked. Bake the pie at 200oC until the “phyllo” rises for about 25-30 min. The pie is ready to eat.
Mpompota
Stir the flour with water and salt to form a mixture (we need it to be thick). Spread some butter on the pan and pour half of the mixture on the bottom. Put the ceramic crock pot on the baking pan to warm the mixture. Melt a tablespoon of pork fat in a frying pan with “tsigarides”(fried pork chunks), pour it on top of the mixture and then pour the other half of the mixture and again some “tsigarides” and butter. Bake it for approx 1 hour in the ceramic crock pot.
Trahanas soup
We boil milk the let it cool down, add salt and flour and knead it well (the pastry should be hard). Form “phyllos” and let it dry out in the sun. As soon as they are dried, use a grater to grate it. Boil water in a pot, pour some pork fat and some trahana and let it boil for 1 quarter of an hour approximately.
Milk-pie
Fresh milk, fresh eggs and fresh butter are the essential ingredients to a delicious milk-pie. Milk may be cow’s milk although the traditional Sheppard’s recipe was made of sheep’s milk which gave the pie e very distinct taste. Pour the milk into a pan on low temperature until it gets warm while preparing the rest of the ingredients. In a bowl mix the flour with the sugar adding the eggs one by one and the vanilla. Mix really well using a beater. As soon as the milk gets warm, pour the ingredients into the pan and let the mixture boil in a low temperature until the cream gets thickened. While boiling the mixture, keep stirring to prevent from sticking to the bottom of the pan. When ready, withdraw the pan, add some fresh butter and stir until it melts down. Leave the filling to cool down in room temperature to use it in the pie. Knead together all the ingredients for 2’ on the lower scale of the beater and then faster to get a manageable pastry. Roll into a small loaf and leave it to rest for 15’. Unroll the dough and spread 200gr of margarine; then trace 8 parts and roll them in the middle, into a ball. Cover the pastry and place it in the fridge for 4 hours. Butter a baking pan, unroll the pastry with a rolling-pin to make it slightly bigger than the backing pan the place it in it. Pour the cream which is now cold enough and place it evenly. Roll in the part of the pastry left off the borders off the pan, to form a roll. Spread olive oil and egg and bake it to 180oC for 45’. When ready out of the oven, spread some fresh butter.
Lamb with orzo pasta baked in the oven
We chop up the lamb and boil it; then put in the oven adding some water, salt, red and black pepper and let it bake. Place orzo pasta nad let it bake for another hour.
Katsamaki
Pour flour in a pan with boiling water; once the mixture becomes thick, add the onions which you have previously browned in olive oil and stir well to ensure uniformity.
Stamnato
Put in a crock 2 kg of pork meat along with 2 kg goat meat, fine chop some onions, 2 garlic heads, black pepper and salt; add some water and let it cook for about five hours.
Varenika
Varenika is a traditional Pontian pasta dish. The recipe is also made with meat or other types of cheese and you may find it in the Lithuanian or Polish cuisine with a different pronunciation.
Arian or Kefir
Also called tsaklamas which is a dessert made of paskitan yogurt mixed with some water and soaked pieces of bread. You may also drink it as a refresher. It can be found in super markets as “arian” or “kefir”.
Ivriston
Pontian pasta. Boil salted water in a pot. Put “ivriston” in a big bowl and pour the boiled water on top. Let it soak for about 2′ and strain. Serve in 2 small plates two portions; one sweet and one salty. Melt some butter in a pot and pour it on top. In the salty portion pour also some kefalotiri cheese, while on the sweet one pour some sugar and cinnamon.
Pisia
Pontian recipe for small pies. Warm up some milk in a pot, scramble the eggs and once the milk is warm enough mix it together. Add some salt, vinegar and oilò add some yeast and stir well. Gradually add flour to make the mixture smooth and easy to work. Knead well. Cover the mixture and let it rest for about 15 min. Vinegar makes pisia tasty and craunchy.
Tanofai
The traditional soup Pontian recipe. There are two versions of this soup; one is made of “tan” or “paskitan”; the second one is made of “yliston”. Both versions are based on “korkoto”.
– “Tan”: a skimmed liquid obtained at the end of the process of making yogurt
– “Paskitan”- the product obtained after boiling “tan” like a cream cheese with a kind of sour taste
– “Yliston”: fuul-fat strained yogurt
– “Korkoto”: especially processed wheat
Pereskia – perek
Pontian recipe for “piroski”. Knead a small piece of pastry; add a spoon o feta cheese (or onions or leeks) and literally through it in the frying pan. Fry both both sides to obtain the right fried colour.
Tsoumour
melt some fresh butter in a frying pan and some stale bread cut on small peices. Once it is roasted pour stirred eggs as an omelet.
Bors (vegetable soup)
Boil the meat and chop the vegetables in cubes. Sauté the onions until they are nicely colored in some olive oil. Once the meat is cooked, chop it in cubes removing any bones. Add the vegetables; potatoes, carrots, cabbage and the sautéed onions, some tomato salt and pepper and let it boil. Just before removing, add the beets, celery and olive oil and let boil for a little while. You may also add a spoon of strained yogurt or chili pepper seeds.
Beltes
Bboil 5 cups of water and sugar until the sugar is fully dissolved. Take two cups to dilute the corn flour and pour it in the boiling water. Stir well until the mixture gets firm. Once ready, serve it in bowls with some almonds and cinnamon.
Baked quinces
remove the seeds and boil them in a pan; strain them and keep the liquid. Slice them in thick slices and place them into a baking pan. Pour the liquid on top, some sugar, cloves and cinnamon sticks and bake.
Bantemia
We grind the almonds to a paste. Knead the almond paste with the sugar. Take a small piece of the paste and knead it with rosewater into the shape of a pear; put a cove on top or knead it into a stick. Frost with some icing sugar.
Karydaki jam
We make a small hole in the walnuts with a fork and place them into a jar just covering them with water. Change the water every day for a month to soak the bitterness out.
Boil the walnut until they get soft and strain them. Place the in a pan adding sugar and water and let them boil enough to thicken the syrup.
Retseli
This recipe was a smart way for the housewives to preserve fruits, which came in abundance from the adjacent fertile valley. Apples, quinces, apricot, figs but also sliced vegetables such as eggplants and courgettes; place them in lime water to make them crispy and boil them into must. A great idea for dessert.
Lalaggites
We make a thick pap out of yeast, flour and sugar. Use a spoon to pour portions of the pap into a frying pan with hot olive oil; fry until they are done and serve with milk, nuts and cinnamon.
Otia
We mix eggs and sugar gradually adding yogurt until the mixture is well blended. Pour baking powder and flour until the pastry gets really easy to work without get sticky. Form a “phyllo” 5 cm thick and cut in pieces in the shape of small rhombus, make a hole in the middle; take one side of the rombus and pass it through the hole to shape to look like an ear (“oti”). Place them one by one in the frying pan with olive oil and fry them. Serve with honey.