Fresh Black Eyed Beans (Louvia)

Black Eyed Beans is a very popular dish in Cyprus, especially during fasting periods. Usually Black Eyes Beans are served with chards, canned tuna, black olives and onions. Chard is a green leafy vegetable that is known by several different names. The most commonly used name for this vegetable is Swiss Chard.Other names for chard include Silverbeet, Perpetual Spinach and Mangold.Chard is widely used in Mediterranean Cuisine.

Fresh Black Eyed Beans are cooked with green zucchinis and served with fresh green peppers, spring onions, cucumbers and tomatoes. What gives this dish its special taste, is the olive oil and the fresh lemon juice. You can also add salt to taste. This is a light meal, with great nutritional value.

Ingredients

• 1/2 kilo of black eyed beans
  
• 2-3 medium size zucchinis
• green pepper
• tomatoes
• cucumbers
• spring onions
• olive oil
• salt, lemon

Method

Shell the beans, put them in a large pan along with zucchinis, cover with water and let them cook until they become tender. It is a matter of preference really. When they are cooked, drain all water, put them in a bowl, add tomatoes , cucumbers, peppers and spring onions-all cut in small pieces-then add salt , lemon and olive oil, mix well and enjoy.

Eliopittes Xoriatikes(Olive Pies)

There are a lot of different ways to make olive pies,( eliopittes in Greek). In a previous posting, you can find the Rustic Olive Pie, which is a very well known way of baking an olive pie, this time I am posting another one of my favorite olive pies, baked in a traditional way, with whole black olives in it which gives it such an excellent taste. In the old days, Cypriot housewives used to bake this particular pie in a traditional oven, lighting pieces of wood and branches for fire.
For now, a conventional gas or electric oven will do. Enjoy!

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Ingredients

• 1 kg of bread flour
• 12 g of yeast
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• half a cup of black olives with pips
• fresh mint
• 125 ml of olive oil
• 375 ml of lukewarm water

Method

Put flour in a large bowl, add yeast and water and knead very well for about 15 minutes until you have a very elastic, not too thick dough. Let it stand for about one hour. Add olive oil, knead well, then add mint, chopped onion and olives. Knead again very well, cut the dough in the size of a tennis ball and knead it in an oval shape until you use all of it (see picture). Cook for 10 minutes in 195 degrees Celsius, and then for another 15 minutes in 185 degrees Celsius, until you get a golden , brownish color.

Souvlakia

I love meat. Everybody that knows me, knows that. Today I am posting one of my favourite meat dishes. It is very simple to prepare and it is one of the most popular, if not the most popular meat dishes in Cyprus.
It is also the the No.1 take-out/take-away food on the Island and is what hamburgers are to the USA. When people don't order souvlakia for take-out, most will prepare souvlakia over the weekend and invite friends or family over to enjoy this delicious food. Even though everybody prepares souvlakia in a slightly different way, the overall preparation is pretty much the same. My secret is adding the spice Sumac, that gives the souvlakia just that slightly different taste than the norm, and I also marinate them for a few hours in a mixture of soy sauce and olive oil.



Ingredients

• 1.5 kg of pork belly cut into bite size cubes
• 2 tomatoes cut into cubes
• 2 large green peppers cut into cube
• 1 large onion cut into pieces
• 1 eggplant cut into cubes
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1-2 tsp sumac spice
• salt according to taste
  

Method

• In a bowl mix cubed meat, olive oil and sauce sauce.
• Then sprinkle sumac all over the meat and again mix well.
• Cover the bowl with cling film and let it marinate in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
• Put the meat on skewers with onion, eggplant, peppers or tomatoe in between the meat and cook over charcoal for 15-20 minutes.
• Garnish with finely chopped fresh parsley and some lemon juice if you wish.