Dried legumes

The past week the temperature has dropped abruptly and it went at least ten degrees down.  With temperatures now being around 16oC, it’s time for comfort food to keep us warm. During summer we would eat dried legumes in salads but now it’s time for stews and soups.  Dried legumes are cheap and have a lot of …

This black eyed peas salad is not only frugal but also filling and healthy as it is packed with vitamins and protein, not to mention how delicious it is!

This Chickpea Salad combined with bulgur wheat as well as the remaining ingredients is a very healthy meal on its own, even if it is called a salad.

This Greek Pumpkin and Fava Soup is made from scratch and is healthy, filling and perfect as a starter for a dinner party or a light supper.  Leftover can easily be made into a delicious dip.

A healthy Mediterranean lentil salad with lots of vegetables for a nutritious lunch or side packed with protein.

Louvi, as we call it in Cyprus, are the black eyed beans. Although the word “louvi” is ancient Greek from lovion, plural lovia (λόβιον, πλ. λόβια), in Greece this word is not used any more. Instead, they are called fassolia mavrommatika, which means black-eyed peas.

Kritharaki me Fakes (pronounced fakhés) is a pasta dish made with orzo and brown lentils. This is a different way of making the Cypriot dish called fakhés moudzentra, which is a staple lentil dish, cooked with brown lentils and rice and then caramelized onions, which are called “tiganissi”, are mixed in.

The white giant  beans called “gigantes or elephantes” have been cultivated in Northern Greece (Kastoria, Florina, and Drama etc.,) for centuries and are recognized by the European Union as products of Protected Geographic Indication (PGI).  These black giant beans are a new Greek variety and are not widely known in Greek cooking yet. They are …

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.

Fava beans, in Greek Φούλια (foulia) is a legume similar to broad beans (ficia fava) in ancient Greek named κύαμος (κyamos) and in modern Greek κουκιά (koukia) and was one of the species of beans than existed in the ancient world.   Fava beans are mentioned by Homer (8th to 9th century B.C.).   Greeks …