If you ever visit Cyprus never order à la Carte.In Cypriot restaurants or tavernas your will see that they serve meze (plural mezedes) on their menu.Cypriot cuisine is famous for its mezedes, which translate as appetizers. Don’t think as mezedes being small appetizer plates as starters but Cypriot mezedes are more than just starters but …

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.

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.

Nistisimi Béchamel is a vegan substitute which can be used on top of Greek dishes such as pastitsio, moussakas, papoutsakia etc to make them vegan.

Indian style chicken curry includes a variety of aromatic spices simmered in a coconut milk-based sauce and served with rice.

Traditional Greek Macedonian Halvas, is one of the main Lenten sweets.   It’s main ingredient is sesame, which is turned into tahini and used to be sweetened originally with threpsini, which is a natural sweetener produced from raisins.  During the  War, when the Germans had confiscated all the production of raisins in Greece, other sweeteners were …

Pasta dishes combine a lot of qualities:  cheap, quick, easy but most of all delicious! Just a few days before Lent started, I realized that I had a lot of ingredients in my refrigerator that I had to use and looking at what I had, a Carbonara was a perfect choice. I had leftover pancetta …

 
Daktyla, also called daktyla kyrion (meaning ladies fingers) is the most popular Cypriot dessert made with phyllo which is very crisp and very juicy, filled with almonds, cinnamon and sugar.  They are fried and then drenched in syrup, scented with anthonero (orange blossom water), which make them irresistible.

Greek Orthodox Easter is just around the corner. For those who want to fast during the last weeks, I have compiled a list with over 100 Lenten Recipes (most of which are also vegan).

When I read Cynthia’s post about The Essence of Choka, I knew I would love this recipe but never had the opportunity to make it as I cannot find cilantro in Greece.  When I went to Cyprus a few weeks ago, I went to the Supermarket and bought two large bunches of cilantro and tried …