Winter is the season of soup and the Hot soup is an indispensable dish that allows not only to get enough, but also to warm up, and such a desire often arises in the winter, even in Cyprus.

So, draw the curtains, light the fire and ready the stove for some of our favourite winter soup recipes.

Trahana Soup

Trahana is a creamy soup made from goat’s cheese, chicken broth, wheat groats and lemon juice. Its preparation method is quite unusual as it is made solid, and then prepared with boiling water when needed. Trahana is usually served with yoghurt and grated Halloumi cheese.

Avgolemono Soup

This rich and creamy soup is made with chicken broth, egg yolks and rice. It’s a filling dish, perfect if you’re feeling particularly hungry. Avgolemono is sometimes also used as a sauce to accompany dishes such as pork or vegetables, so it’s particularly versatile, however, when in Cyprus, you’ll generally find it served up as a stand-alone dish.

Hortosupa Soup

If you’re looking for a healthy soup, that also packs a flavour punch, then opt for Hortosupa soup. Full of fresh local vegetables, with a little rice, tomatoes, potatoes and meat or chicken broth, it’s a simple soup that is just perfect on a winter’s day.

Louvana soup 

Louvana is a traditional Cypriot soup, It’s a delicious, nutritious, vegan and very easy to make. ‘Louvana’ are small, yellow split peas high in protein and low in fat. Great soup especially when is very cold! Give it a go.

Soup Fakes

Fakes is a Greek vegetarian lentil soup that is quick and easy to prepare and warms well in the fall and winter days. To make the soup more nutritious and aromatic, when cooking, instead of water, you can use meat broth.

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Shiamishi, is one of the most popular sweets in Cyprus.

Shamishi is made with homemade phyllo filled with an aromatic, sweet semolina cream, flour flavoured with anthonero (rosewater), and mastic.  The sweet is deep-fried and served hot with granulated sugar on top.

Shamishi has been produced in Cyprus since the 19th century and is considered a traditional delicacy of Cyprus’s traditional cuisine.

Loukoumades, are pastries made of leavened and deep-fried dough, soaked in syrup or honey, sometimes coated with cinnamon or other ingredients. The dish has been around as early as the 13th century.

This internationally known, decadent, and sugar-packed dessert is usually made with a mixture of flour, sugar, yeast, and salt, which is deep-fried and then bathed in syrup or honey. The origin of lokma fritters is ancient but often debated. It is presumed that they first appeared in Greece or Turkey, though some suggest an Arabic origin.

Alternatively, loukoumades can be topped with fresh cream, chocolate, sesame seeds, or walnuts.

Both of these desserts are vegan.

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Ingredients

For the filling

1kg pumpkin

100g coarse bulgur

30g vermicelli noodles

100g small raisins

½ large finely chopped onion

2 tps olive oil

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2-3 tps granulated sugar

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 tps balsamic cream

poppy seeds, for sprinkling

For the dough

530g bread flour (hard flour)

130g all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

4 tps olive oil

4 tps sunflower oil

2 tps vinegar

50g fresh orange juice

300g lukewarm water

extra flour for dusting

Method

For the filling

Take off the pumpkin’s peel and cut into cubes (2×2 cm).

Put the cut cubes in a bowl and leave aside.

Place the chopped onion, sunflower and olive oil in a pan and sauté (medium heat) for about 5 mins. They will be ready when they are soft and become light golden.

Then, place the vermicelli noodles and the bulgur in the pan and sauté until they turn golden. 

Add them to the bowl with the sautéed pumpkin along with the rest of the filling ingredients except raisins and mix until fully blended.

Cover the bowl with a membrane and refrigerate overnight. Keep in mind that the pumpkin will release all of its juices and the bulgur will absorb them. On the next day add the raisins and leave aside until the mixture is needed.

For the dough

Place the all-purpose flour, the hard flower, sunflower oil and olive oil into a large bowl and mix until fully combined. You need to rub the mixture with your fingers until it looks like wet sand.

When it’s done, make a small hole in its center and add the water, orange juice, vinegar and salt. Mix until the mixture turns into an elastic and smooth dough.

Shape the mixture into a ball, wrap it in membrane and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 180^oC Fan.

When the dough is rested, remove it from the refrigerator and cut it into small pieces. Take 1 piece (cover the rest of the dough with a towel) and knead on a lightly floured surface until it becomes a thin sheet.

Use a round 10cm cutter to cut out the dough. Then, on each cut circle, add a large spoon of the filling. Remember to place a small bowl of water next to you and wet the perimeter of the dough circles before folding the circle to create half-moons.

Use a fork to press down on the edges and seal the pumpkin pies.

Repeat the same process for the rest of the dough and filling.

Place a baking paper on the oven pan, place the pies (leave space between them) and brush lightly with some orange juice.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until pies turn golden.

When they are done, sprinkle with poppy seeds, drizzle with balsamic cream and serve.

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Let’s see how easy it is to make it this Sunday, and why not add a bit of ice cream just to tip it off?

Ingredients:

For The Dough

• 1 kg ’00’ flour
• 1 cup oil,vegetable/sunflower
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 1,5 cup water, approximately

For The Filling

• 250 gr single cream
• 150 gr almonds,roughly chopped
• some cinnamon

For The Syrup

• 3 cups sugar
• 3 cups water
• 1 cinnamon stick

Method:

1. Pre heat the oven at 180°C.
2. Make the dough by mixing the flour and oil together and start rubbing the mixture with your fingers until it becomes like breadcrumbs.
3. Add the water and vinegar and start kneading for about 5 minutes, until everything is well mixed and the dough becomes soft. 
4. Leave the dough to rest for approximately 30 minutes. 
5. In the meantime, start preparing the syrup by mixing the water, sugar and cinnamon stick in a small pan and as soon as it starts bubbling, let it boil for exactly 3 more minutes before removing it from the heat and let it aside to cool. 
6. After the dough is rested, split it into 4 equal pieces. Take the first piece and use the rolling pin to flatten it out as much as yoy can. The ideal would be to make the dough sheet as thin as possible.
7. Estimate 5 tablespoons the fresh cream and spread it on the dough evenly. Then, sprinkle a few almonds with cinnamon too. 
8. Then, roll the dough tightly and put it in a tray while creating a spiral.
9. Do the same with the other 3 pieces and place them in the tray.
10. Wet the top of the spiral dough with some cream and the chopped almonds. 
11. Place the dessert in the oven and bake for about 1 hour.
12. When it’s evenly baked, take out of the oven and pour the syrup on the top. You should allow it to absorb all the syrup before serving, ideally overnight.

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Ingredients

1L  water

100gr maize powdered starch

1tbsp sugar

Rose syrup

Rose water

Method

• Place the maize powdered starch with the water in a saucepan on a low heat and stir constantly until the mixture makes bubbles.
• Add the sugar and stir for another 5 minutes until it becomes a thick cream … and it is ready.
• Put it in a pan already wet with water. Let it cool, add water, enough to cover it, and place it in the fridge to chill.
• Serve with rose syrup, rose water and water (ice cubes)!

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For the dough:

1 kg flour

1 tsp yeast

1 tsp soda

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

Water for kneading

For the filling:

1 cup tahini

1 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Carob honey (optional)

Method:

• For the dough we mix all the ingredients together. We do the same with the filling.
• Cut some dough and form small balls, and use the rolling pin to make round pies.
• Put in a spoonful of stuffing, close from the top, roll over while twisting it a little.
• Then wrap one end of the roll inwards to the center.
• We do the same with the other end of the roll, but in the opposite direction, that is, it becomes like a sideways “S” (sigma). Fold one side of the sigma over the other and open it a little further.
• When finished, put them in an oiled baking sheet and leave for about 1 hour in a warm place.
• Bake for 10-15 minutes.

Note: The baking sheets are oiled and sprinkled with sugar. When we put the tahini pies, let them sweat and inflate, sprinkle them with sugar and turn them over again.

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Snails

Vinegar

2-3 lemon leaves

Ouzo

Method

• Before cooking, wash the snails with water.
• Rub the snails lightly between them and change the water 6-8 times until they are clear.
• Boil the snails in a saucepan with water and a little vinegar over low heat, and when foam begins to form, remove it with a perforated dipper and throw it away.
• Then add the lemon leaves and a pinch of ouzo and a tablespoon of salt.
• Before the snails are cooked, remove them from the heat and put them in a bowl and remove their shell with a knife (the back of the shell).

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Mostly made of eggs and lemon juice, this particular soup is a pleasant surprise especially for those tasting it for the first time.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken (1kg) keep the skin and bones

For the soup:

1 cup rice Carolina

10 cups of water

Salt, pepper

For the sauce:

3 eggs

1/2 cup lemon juice (you could add more or less according to your personal taste)

1 cup broth

Method:

Wash the chicken clean and place it in a pot to boil. Make sure that you have added enough water so that the chicken is fully covered. After its boiled, use a spoon to get rid of any froth in order to clean the water. 

Add the salt, lower the heat and cook for approximately half an hour so that the chicken becomes very tender.

When the chicken is tender enough, remove it from the pot, add the rice and let it cook for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the avgolemono sauce. Separate the egg whites from the yolks and beat the whites with some lemon juice just to get a “meringue” texture. Add the yolks, the rest of the lemon juice and while beating the eggs, start pouring the broth, a little at a time. The stock / broth ratio added is depended on the thickness you want the sauce to have.  

Then, pour the sauce in the hot soup slowly and stir it enough to get the sauce blended evenly to the soup.

Add the freshly grounded black pepper and serve hot.

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The recipe is not too difficult to execute BUT you have to remember that time is important when making kleftiko while rosemary is the secret ingredient!

Usually, kleftiko is cooked in a clay oven, however if you do not have one, kitchen oven is fine as well!

Ingredients

• 4 cloves of garlic
• 100 g butter, real butter (50+50)
• grated zest and juice from 1 lemon
• 3 tablespoons fresh oregano, finely chopped
• ¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon rosemary, finely chopped
• salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 1 ½ kilo leg of lamb, bone in and cut into portions
• 1 kilo baby potatoes, cut in half

Preparation: 

• In a food processor, add the garlic, 50 g butter, lemon zest, oregano, cinnamon and rosemary. Beat until the mixture becomes a paste. You can also use a mortar and pestle to do this.
• Season with salt and pepper and massage the aromatic paste all over the lamb.
• Transfer lamb to a bowl and cover with lid, sealing well.
• Refrigerate overnight or for at least 3-4 hours.
• The following day, tear off 2 large pieces of aluminum foil and 2 large pieces of parchment paper that are 1 meter long, each.
• Remove the lamb from the refrigerator one hour before you are ready to cook so that it can come to room temperature.
• Preheat oven to 150* C (300* F) Fan.
• Place the parchment paper over the aluminum foil in a crisscross manner.
• Season the baby potatoes generously with salt and pepper. Place over the parchment.
• Add the lamb over the potatoes. Cut the remaining butter into small cubes and scatter over the lamb and potatoes. Add the grated zest and the juice from 1 lemon.
• Wrap in the parchment and aluminum and transfer to a baking pan.
• Roast for 4 hours.
• When 4 hours have passed, turn oven temperature up to 200* C (390* F) Fan, and roast for another ½ hour, until the lamb is golden brown.
• When ready, remove from oven, cover and set it aside and let it rest for 30 minutes before serving.
• Serve with your choice of salad.
• If you want the potatoes to become more golden, you can roast them for 30 minutes, while the meat is resting.
• You can also add any vegetables you like along with the potatoes. A great combination is bell peppers along with cheese like gruyere.

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