Announcing Creative Concoctions #2 – Vegan or Nistisimes (Lenten Recipes)

A healthy vegan risotto, which is made the classic way, adding onions, leeks and aromatic herbs, which add an amazing taste to this dish!

This aromatic black-eyed peas dish cooked with quinoa & wild greens, is a simple, healthy and a complete-meal you definitely should try.

Mpamies (okra with sun-dried tomatoes) is a light and healthy low carb dish which is full of nutrients and other healthy properties.

Kolokythoanthoi or Ath(th)oi, as they are called in Cyprus,
pronounced with a thick "th", are the blossoms of the courgettes
(zucchini) which are filled with rice.

Kounoupidi me Patates Kapamas (pr. kou-nou-PEE-dee MEH Pah-TAH-tess Kah-pah-MASS) is a simple vegan Greek Stew with potatoes. You can also make the dish without the potatoes and serve it as a side dish.

Ampelofassoula are the fresh green green beans (Vigna unguiculata) also known as cow peas, also called louvi in Cyprus.  These beans are eaten before they mature,usually boiled and eaten as a salad with olive oil and lemon juice.

These vegan chickpea burgers are packed with spices and herbs, very  healthy and seriously satisfying !

Whole Wheat Penne with Chickpeas, Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and roasted garlic is a delicious and healthy vegan pasta dish. A delicious summer meal.

This healthy Greek chickpea salad is a filling dish on its own, packed with protein from the chickpeas, quinoa and tuna and full of vitamins from the herbs, vegetables and salad dressing.

Gigantes plaki is a deliciously hearty vegan dish made with giant beans, which are cooked until soft and then baked in a delicious tomato sauce until the beans absorb all the juices and caramelize.

This Hummus Dip is a wonderful recipe which is based on the traditional hummus recipe but combined with roasted butternut squash and garlicky Greek olives.

Louvi is a healthy traditional Cypriot dish of black eyed peas, cooked with silverbeet (chard) and served with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice.

Coconut whipped cream is a dairy-free alternative to classic whipped cream, which is made with heavy whipping cream!

A very moist, delicious and healthy Vegan Carrot Cake with Banana, Spices and topped with Coconut frosting and Bergamot fruit preserve.

This coconut rice pudding is not only vegan but also lactose free and gluten free but equally creamy and delicious as the classic one!

Revithia giahni sti gastra is a vegan dish with stewed chickpeas, traditionally cooked in a clay pot and baked in a wood burning oven.  However, not all of us have wood burning ovens or clay pots but we can still cook it in a Dutch oven or any casserole dish in our home oven.   If you don't have any of the above, use a baking tin which cover with an aluminium tent.

An easy, delicious and healthy vegan chocolate cake made in no time.

One of the easiest and delicious, vegan glazes to add on top of your vegan cakes and other creations!

Vegan Meringues made with aquafaba are light, airy and crispy, which melt in your mouth, much better than egg meringues.

This vegan carrot cake is so easy to make, it is moist and tastes fantastic.  You can eat it as it is or add a glaze on top!

There's nothing like homemade apple turnovers with homemade apple sauce. They are delicious and yet so easy, that any one can make these homemade turnovers.

This vegan chocolate cake uses avocado and extra virgin olive oil instead of any other fat, it is loaded with chocolate flavor and and many other healthy ingredients.

Kollyva, is a sweet dish prepared with boiled wheat berries, nuts, raisins, pomegranate and spices, which is taken to church to commemorate our deceased during funerals or memorials.  

Cypriot pitta bread are much different to the Greek pitas. They are flatbread like the other pita but are different in shape and in taste.

Lagana (in Greek λαγάνα, pronounced lah-GHAH-nah) is a traditional Greek flatbread, which is made with flour, yeast, salt and water.

If you're looking for a take-along party appetizer recipe that's easy, impressive, and makes A LOT, these crispy mushroom phyllo triangles are it. 

Glystarkes or glistarkes or gyristarkes, from the Greek verb γυρίζω = turn, is a kind of Cypriot grid-like crusty, sesame rusk.  

Cypriot Traditional Tahinopita is a Lenten or vegan sweet bread, which is very flavourful as it is filled with tahini, sugar and cinnamon.

Pantzaria Xydata (pronounced pan-TZAh-rhia Ksee-DAH-tah) are beets preserved in vinegar, which are one of our favourite vegetables to preserve.

Hummus or hoummous is a Middle Eastern dip made from mashed chickpeas and blended with tahini, garlic, lemon juice, spices and olive oil.

This vegan Chocolate Carrot cake is moist and delicious with a chocolate - tahini glaze on top, which makes it not only healthy but also irresistible.  

This vegan dessert is made with store bought halvas, chocolate, toasted nuts, candied fruit or spoon sweets (glyka tou koutaliou) and coconut.

Tambouli salad, also written as tabouli or tabbouleh, is a refreshing parsley salad, which is made with bulgur wheat tomatoes, onion, cucumber, fresh mint and dressed with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice.

Tashi is a Cypriot vegan dip made with tahini, garlic and lemon juice. It goes well with almost any food and this appetizer is served in all Cypriot restaurants.

Hoummous soup is made with the same ingredients as for hoummous dip. More hot broth is added until it reaches the consistency of a soup and is served with croutons. The cooked chickpeas can be freezed, so when making this soup, I usually boil more in order to make the dip whenever I like.

Revithokeftedes (pr. reh-vee-thaw-kae-FTEH-thes) aka chickpea Patties is a delicious, healthy, Greek, vegan meal.

Koukia, Fava beans (Vicia faba), in Greek koukia (plural of word kouki), pr. kou-KHIA, is an easy, vegan Greek dish paired with lemon, dill, fennel and parsley, which adds lots of flavour to this healthy dish.

Vazania, is the name of eggplants in the Cypriot dialect, (in Greece they are called melitzanes), which are fried together with potatoes and stewed, to make them giahni, which is a delicious vegan and frugal dish.   

Lahanoryzo is a frugal, vegan dish, made with cabbage and rice, cooked in a light tomato sauce..

Fresh okra is often maligned for being slimy, but if they are handled properly, before cooked, these small, green pods will become delicious when cooked!

Hantres also called barbounofassoula, is a type of kidney bean with a pink speckled skin that turns brown when cooked.

Fassolia Piaz are white beans boiled and made into a salad. There are a lot of variations of this salad but we like it with tomatoes, onion, tuna, parsley, served with olive oil and lemon juice.

This Brown Lentils with Carrots, Orzo and caramelized onions dish has been one of my family's favourite Cypriot dishes for years.
The addition of carrots and serving them with caramelized onions on top, add a lovely sweetness to the dish and an intense depth of flavour.

Brown Lentils with Smoked Eggplant and Pasta is inspired from my Cypriot dish called Fakhes Moudjentra.   It is a light dish with a lot of flavour from the smoked eggplant as well as sweetness from the onion and carrot.  The pasta is cooked in the leftover fluid, which absorbs all the flavour and adds body to the dish, making it a healthy, nutritional and filling dish.

Fakes moutzentra is a lentil recipe we make in Cyprus and is a high protein, balanced healthy food, especially with the combination of rice.

Add extra flavour and texture to your lentil salad combined with plenty of vegetables and protein for a nutritious lunch or side.

Fakes (pronounced fakhés) is a Greek vegan lentil soup with vegetables.  It is of high nutritional value which makes it perfect for the cold days!

A perfect nutritional, light, summer side dish and why not a main dish.  The Lentil and Bulgur Spicy Salad is vegan but if you are not vegan, it goes well with some Greek yoghurt.

Patates Lemonates my way, are Greek Lemony Potatoes, which is a twist to the classic Greek side dish of roasted potatoes, with a sweet and sour taste.

In some countries they call them potato chips and in others, French fries, fries or finger chips.  In Greece, we call them "Patates Tiganites" (pr. pah-TAH-tess Tee-ghah-nee-TESS).

Penne Skordalia is an easy and healthy pasta dish made with Walnut Skordalia, a Greek diip made with olive oil, garlic, bread and walnuts.

Pastitsio nistisimo (pr. Pah-STEE-tsio Knee-STEE-see-moh) is a vegan pasta casserole dish made with tubular pasta, vegetable filling and topped with a vegan faux béchamel sauce.  The same dish can be made vegetarian using the same filling but adding a real bechamel sauce on top.

This vegan moussakas is as delicious as the real one. It is layered with eggplant, potatoes and zucchini, with a vegan vegetable filling and a delicious vegan "faux" bechamel sauce. 

A very easy, healthy and nutricious main dish made with bulgur wheat and leftover meat.

This Easy Rice Pilaf with Mushrooms is perfect for a festive dinner as it is tender, fluffy, and flavorful. It's the perfect side dish to accompany any meal, anytime.

Gemista (pronounced as ye-mi-STA), are Greek stuffed tomatoes and peppers filled with rice and herbs, baked in a tomato sauce.  Between the gaps of the vegetables we add potatoes which absorb all the wonderful flavours of the vegetables.  As potatoes need more time to bake, we must cut them into thin wedges about twice the size of potato chips.

In Greek, htapodi is octopus and makaronaki kofto is a small pasta, like ditali.  It  is cooked in a tomato sauce and then in the sauce we cook the pasta.    It is a Lenten recipe, so during Lent no cheese is added on top.

Everyone who's ever eaten Greek food, knows about grilled octopus. However, at home, we prepare it in many ways and here is one where the octopus is cooked in its juices.

One of my favorite dishes in the whole world is Greek style octopus salad, or “htapodi salata”, which combined with boiled potatoes, green onion, parsley and extra virgin olive oil is fabulous served as a side or main dish.

Octopus Risotto is a delicious and healthy dish, which is perfect not only for those fasting during Orthodox Lent but for our everyday meal.

Kalamaria (pr. kah-lah-MAHR-ghia), is a very popular dish in Greece and Cyprus, especially during Lent when seafood is allowed to be eaten.

Thrapsala (Illex coindetti or shortfin squid) are of the same family as calamari but much more cheaper, at least here in Greece, but equally delicious.