Trahanas: heart-warming Greek winter recipes

It’s been a couple of weeks since I returned from Greece to London and I’ve been feeling very homesick. The grey skies and the rainy weather certainly haven’t helped me beat those post-holiday blues. As a Psychiatrist who loves cooking and baking, I have the right ingredients and recipes to help lift my mood. In my almost overweight suitcase, I had packed many Greek culinary products hard to source in the UK. Amongst those, there were several jars of spoon sweets, fava beans, and a couple of packs of my all-time winter favourite food: trahanas.

Trahanas is a dry food ingredient, commonly found in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean. It is traditionally made by mixing flour with milk (or yoghurt); the mixture is then fermented and dried. Nowadays, you can easily find trahanas pre-mixed with vegetables, herbs or spices. I personally prefer adding my own when I cook it, so I tend to buy the plain variety. Trahanas is traditionally cooked as a thick soup by adding it to water and simmering. In Greece, when we say trahanas, we refer to either the dry (uncooked) ingredient, or the soup made from it (also known as trahanosoupa). In England, it is sometimes translated as ‘frumenty’, which is a medieval dish quite similar to trahanas.

Today, I am sharing my tried-and-tested recipe for a delicious heart-warming trahanosoupa, but also an alternative recipe for trahanopita, a pie made of trahanas.

Trahanas soup (trahanosoupa)

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons of plain trahanas
1 1/2 cup of water
Approx. 1 tablespoon of red spices (cinnamon, paprika, chilli powder)
Approx. 1 tablespoon of tomato puree or ketchup
Approx. 100 grams of feta cheese (crumbled)

Makes one serving

Method:

Bring the water to a boil.
When the water starts boiling, add the trahanas, and lower the temperature.
Simmer until the trahanas has become soft (pasta-like) in texture (the duration depends on the type used; it usually takes about 15-20 minutes).
When the trahanas is cooked, add the spices and the tomato puree, and stir.
Then, add the feta cheese.
At this point, the soup should have a thick, creamy texture, not too liquid, but not too dense either.
Serve the soup in a bowl and enjoy!

Trahanas pie (trahanopita)

Ingredients:

500 grams plain trahanas
300 grams feta cheese (crumbled)
250 grams plain flour (sifted)
5 eggs (beaten)
400 grams milk
3 tablespoons olive oil (& extra to grease the tin)
Approx. 1 tablespoon of red spices (cinnamon, paprika, chilli powder)
Salt and pepper

Makes 6-8 servings

Method:

Beat the eggs.
Then, mix all the ingredients together.
Grease a rectangular tin with some olive oil.
Pour the mixture into the tin.
Bake at 180 degrees for about an hour.

Enjoy!

Further reading

For a taste of the Greek summer, check out my post ‘6 delicious Greek summer recipes‘.

Alex

(the Traveling Psychiatrist)