Typical dishes
Greek cuisine is very diverse and although there are many common characteristics amongst the culinary traditions of different regions within the country, there are also many differences, making it difficult to present a full list of representative dishes. For example, the vegetarian dish " Haniotiko Mpoureki" (oven baked slices of potatoes with zucchini, myzithra cheese and mint) is a typical dish in western Crete, in the region of Chania. A family in Chania may consume this dish 1-2 times per week in the summer season. However, it is not cooked in any other region of Greece.
The list will present some of the most representative Greek dishes that can be found throughout the country and the most famous of the local ones:
[edit] Appetizers
A simple Greek meze: Cheese and olives
Taramosalata
Meze is a collective name for a variety of small dishes, typically served with wines or anise-flavored liqueurs as ouzo or homemade tsipouro. Orektika is the formal name for appetizers and is often used as a reference to eating a first course of a cuisine other than Greek cuisine. Dips are served with bread loaf or pita bread. In some regions, dried bread (paximadhi) is softened in water.
* Boureki: individually vegetable and meat fillings wrapped in phyllo pastry or dough.
* Deep Fried vegetables "tiganita" (courgettes, aubergines, peppers or mushrooms).
* Dolmades: grapevine leaves stuffed with rice and vegetables, meat is also often included.
* Fava: Yellow split pea puree or other bean purees; sometimes made of fava beans (called κουκκιά in Greek)
* Greek Salad: The so-called Greek Salad is known in Greece as Village/Country Salad (Horiatiki), essentially a tomato salad with cucumber, red onion, feta cheese, and kalamata olives, dressed with olive oil.
* Horta: wild or cultivated greens, steamed or blanched and made into salad, simply dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. They can be eaten as a light meal with potatoes (especially during Lent, in lieu of fish or meat).
* Kolokythoanthoi: zucchini flowers stuffed with rice or cheese and herbs.
* Koukkia: fava beans.
* Lachanosalata: Cabbage Salad. Very finely shredded cabbage with salt, olive oil, lemon juice/vinegar dressing.
* Marides tiganites: Deep-fried whitebait, usually served with lemon wedges.
* Melitzanosalata: aubergine (eggplant) salad.
* Pantzarosalata: beetroot salad with olive oil and vinegar.
* Patata salata: Potato salad with olive oil, finely sliced onions, lemon juice or vinegar.
* Saganaki: fried cheese; the word "saganaki" means a small cooking pan, and can be applied to many other foods.
* Skordalia: thick garlic and potato puree, usually accompanies deep fried fish/cod.
* Spanakopita: spinach, feta cheese (sometimes in combination with ricotta cheese), onions or spring onions, egg and seasoning wrapped in phyllo pastry.
* Taramosalata: fish roe mixed with boiled potatoes or moistened breadcrumbs, olive oil and lemon juice.
* Tzatziki: yoghurt with cucumber and garlic puree, used as a dip.
* Tyropita: cheese (usually feta) wrapped in phyllo pastry.
Many other food items also are wrapped in phyllo pastry, either in bite-size triangles or in large sheets: kotopita (chicken), spanakotyropita (spinach and cheese), hortopita (greens), kreatopita (meat pie, using ground meat), etc.
[edit] Soups
* Avgolemono 'egg-lemon' soup: chicken or other meat, vegetable, or fish broth thickened with eggs, lemon juice, and rice.
* Bourou-Bourou, a vegetable & pasta soup from the island of Corfu.
* Colomo soup.
* Fakes, is a lentil soup and one of the famous everyday Greek soups, usually served with vinegar and feta cheese.
* Fasolada, a bean soup defined in many cookery books as the traditional Greek dish, sometimes even called "the "national food of the Greeks"[13]. It is made of beans, tomatoes, carrot, celery and a lot of olive oil.
* Magiritsa, is the traditional Easter soup made with lamb offal and thickened with avgolemono.
* Patsas, a tripe soup.
* Psarosoupa or 'fish soup' can be cooked with a variety of fish types, and several kinds of vegetables (carrots, parsley, celery, potatoes, onion), several varieties include the classic kakavia which is drizzled with olive oil.
* Revithia, a chickpea soup.
* Trahana soup, a mixture of fermented grain and yogurt .
[edit] Vegetarian main dishes
Very popular during fasting periods, such as the Great Lent:
* Aginares A La Polita: artichokes with olive oil.
* Arakas Me Aginares: fresh peas with artichokes in the oven.
* Bamies: okra with tomato sauce (sometimes with potatoes and/or chicken/lamb).
* Briám: an oven-baked ratatouille of summer vegetables based on sliced potatoes and zucchini in olive oil. Usually includes eggplant, tomatoes, onions, and ample aromatic herbs and seasonings.
* Domatokeftedhes: tomato fritters with mint, fried in olive oil and typically served with fava (split pea paste). Mainly a Cycladic Island dish.
* Fasolakia freska: fresh green beans stewed with potatoes, zucchini and tomato sauce.
* Gigantes: baked beans with tomato sauce and various herbs.[14] Often made spicy with various peppers.
* Horta (greens) already mentioned in the Appetizers section, are quite often consumed as a light main meal, with boiled potatoes and bread.
* Lachanorizo (Λαχανόριζο) (Cabbage with rice)
* Prassorizo (Πρασόριζο) (Leeks with rice)
* Lachanodolmades: Cabbage rolls, stuffed with rice and sometimes meat, spiced with various herbs and served with avgolemono sauce or simmered in a light tomato broth.
* Spanakorizo: Spinach and rice stew cooked in lemon and olive oil sauce.
* Yemista: Baked stuffed vegetables. Usually tomatoes, peppers, or other vegetables hollowed out and baked with a rice and herb filling.
[edit] Meat dishes
Kokoretsi, seasoned lamb innards
* Oven-baked lamb with potatoes (Αρνί στο φούρνο με πατάτες). One of the commonest "Sunday" dishes. There are many variations with additional ingredients.
* Bekri Meze: 'drunkard's snack', diced beef or pork marinated in wine, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves, olive oil and cooked slowly.
* Giouvetsi: lamb or veal baked in a clay pot with Kritharaki (orzo) and tomatoes.
* Yiouvarlakia: meatballs with egg-lemon sauce, usually served over white rice.
* Païdakia: Grilled lamb chops with lemon, oregano, salt and pepper.
* Chtapodi sti Skhara: Grilled octopus in vinegar, oil and oregano. Accompanied by Ouzo.
* Gyros: meat roasted on a vertically turning spit and served with sauce (often tzatziki) and garnishes (tomato, onions) on pita bread; a popular fast food.
* Kleftiko: literally meaning "of the Klephts", this is lamb slow-baked on the bone, first marinated in garlic and lemon juice, originally cooked in a pit oven.
* Keftedes: fried meatballs with oregano and mint.
* Kotopoulo pilafi, a chicken and white rice dish, mostly popular on the island of Crete. The gamopílafo ("wedding pilaf") variety is a prized version served at wedding feasts.
* Moussaka: eggplant casserole. There are other variations besides eggplant, such as zucchini or rice, but the eggplant version melitzanes moussaka is most popular.
* Pastitsio: a baked pasta dish with a filling of ground meat and a Bechamel sauce top.
* Pork with celery (hirino me selino/hirino selinato).
* Soutzoukakia Smyrneika (Smyrna meatballs): large meatballs with cumin, cinnamon and garlic and served in a tomato sauce. Often served with rice or mashed potatoes.
* Souvlaki: (lit: 'skewer') Anything grilled on a skewer (lamb, chicken, pork, swordfish, shrimp). Most common is lamb, pork or chicken, often marinated in oil, salt, pepper, oregano and lemon.
* Spetsofai: a stew of country sausage, green and red mild peppers, onions and wine. Originates from Mt. Pelion.
* Stifado: game (rabbit, hare, venison etc.) stew with pearl onions, vinegar, red wine and cinnamon. Beef can be substituted for game.
[edit] Desserts and sweets
Koulourakia and Kourabiedes
* Baklava, phyllo pastry layers filled with nuts and drenched in syrup.
* Diples, a Christmas and wedding delicacy, made of thin, sheet-like dough which is cut in large squares and dipped in a swirling fashion in a pot of hot olive oil for a few seconds. As the dough fries, it stiffens into a helical tube; it is then removed immediately and sprinkled with honey and crushed walnuts.[15]
* Galaktoboureko, custard between layers of phyllo. The name derives from the Greek "ghala", meaning milk, and from the Turkish börek, meaning filled, thus meaning "filled with milk."
* Halvadopites A nougat of sesame with almonds in a thin crust.
* Karidopita, a walnut cake.
* Koulourakia, butter or olive-oil cookies.
* Kourabiedes, Christmas cookies made by kneading flour, butter and crushed roasted almonds, then generously dusted with powdered sugar.
* Loukoumades, similar to donuts, loukoumades are essentially fried balls of dough drenched in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon.
* Melomakarona, "honey macaroons", Christmas cookies soaked in a syrup of diluted honey (meli in Greek, thus melomakarona), then sprinkled with crushed walnuts.
* Moustalevria, a flour and grape must pudding.
* Moustokouloura, cookies of flour kneaded with fresh grape must instead of water.
* Rizogalo 'rice-milk' is rice pudding.
* Loukoumi is a confection made from starch and sugar, essentially similar to the Turkish delight. A variation from Serres is called Akanes.
* Milopita me Pandespani, apple pie with cinnamon and powdered sugar.
* Spoon sweets (γλυκά του κουταλιού) of various fruits, ripe or unripe, or green unripe nuts. Spoon sweets are essentially made the same way as marmalade, except that the fruit are boiled whole or in large chunks.
* Tsoureki, a traditional Christmas and Easter sweet bread also known as 'Lambropsomo' (Easter bread), flavored with "mahlepi", the intensely aromatic extract of the stone of the St. Lucie Cherry.
* Vasilopita, Saint Basil's cake or King's cake, traditional for New Year's Day. Vasilopites are baked with a coin inside, and whoever gets the coin in their slice are considered blessed with good luck for the whole year.
* Yogurt with honey or spoon sweet syrup.
Source: Wikipedia
Comments
Great answer!!!
by MusicalChef on July 13th, 2009
Thanks Cake for a detailed answer.
by keithold is a prodigal bagger on July 13th, 2009