Popular Greek dishes sweet pie. Greek sweets! Spoon of sweet paste in water

Thanks to the turbulent history of the Greek people, it is now difficult to say for sure how Greek sweets sold in zacharoplastio (pastry shops) or baked with love by skilled housewives are truly Greek. Close proximity to the East and Turkish dominance over the course of several centuries combined many culinary traditions and influenced cooking methods, so Greek sweets can also be called oriental sweets, which are legendary among gourmets.

Be that as it may, Greek sweets are very popular among adults and children in Greece, and are also very popular with tourists who want to get to know the country better through taste sensations. Local cookies, sweets, waffles, nougat and much more do not lose their freshness for a long time, so foreigners buy all these goodies as a memory of a wonderful trip.

The basis for most Greek sweets is honey (preferably thyme), which gives not only a characteristic aroma, but also high nutritional properties, and nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios). For the preparation of some sweets, ingredients such as dry fruits, vegetable oil, semolina (for halva), milk, cream, cheese (in Cretan calcuni or in milopite) are used ( apple pie) Sifnos), etc.

A homemade puff pastry sheet is one of the main ingredients. Many housewives in the old days were famous for their ability to roll very thin puff pastry. Now they usually buy ready-made puff pastry in stores. Biscuit pies, cakes, pastries, etc. found their place in the confectionery assortment of the Greeks relatively recently, but have already managed to become an integral part of modern cuisine.

Oriental, including Greek, sweets are divided into three large groups:

flour products(all kinds of cookies and pies based on shortbread, butter, puff or biscuit dough): kurabiedes biscuits, baklava (baklavas), kyata, mutaki, etc.

Products such as soft sweets: nougat, aerated Turkish delight, Turkish delight, kos-halva, sherbet, chuch-hela, etc.;

Confectionery: kozinaki, grillage; sugar products: crystal sugar, nishallo (sugar "vermicelli"), nogul (amorphous sugar with spices).

The traditional Greek sweet is baklava(baclavas) - layered cake with crushed walnuts, almonds and cinnamon, soaked in thick syrup. Russians know this dish thanks to Turkish merchants. But its recipe is still Greek, and was borrowed by the Turks many centuries ago.

The first mention of the dish dates back to the 15th century: “In the cookbook of the Museum of the Ottoman Sultans in the Topkapi Palace, there is a record from the time of Sultan Fatih, according to which the first “paklava” was cooked in the palace in August 1453. It is said that the Sultan was so pleased with the invention of the chef that he ordered to perpetuate his recipe. Since then, baklava has been prepared at every holiday.” But 1453 is the year of the fall of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire (the main population of this city were Greeks). Therefore, it is quite obvious where the Turks got the recipe for the first "baklavas" from.

One of the most famous oriental delicacies are delight and Turkish delight (lukumades), which began to be made in the East 400 years ago during the heyday of the Ottoman Empire. At first it was served as a special delicacy at the court of the padishah, later it began to be cooked everywhere, and lokum became a traditional delicacy of the East. Turkish delight was brought to Europe in the middle of the 17th century.

Turkish delight contains sugar, glucose, natural flower additives, flavor additives, roasted almonds and pistachios. Therefore, this sweetness has a lot useful properties. The nuts contained in it are recommended for use in hypertension, obesity, high cholesterol, insomnia.

Other must-try delicacies in Greece are galatombureko (sweet roll with milk cream) cadefi(sweet products based on honey), halva(based on semolina), ravani and Samali(types of cakes), profiteroles (a thin layer of biscuit dough soaked in syrup, covered with vanilla or chocolate mousse), root me cream(crispy puff tube with custard and whipped cream).

The classic Christmas sweets are " diples"(pie with filling), or "xerotigana" - in the Cretan version, as well as cookies kurabye(kourabiedes) and melomakarona(Phenicia) with the addition of cloves. For the preparation of kurabiedes and melomacaron, grandmothers and mothers usually gather and prepare kilograms of sweets for subsequent distribution to all relatives and friends. Boxes of homemade Christmas cakes are brought to loved ones on holiday visits.

The abundance of all kinds of fruits allow the Greeks to cook the famous Greek jam, for which quince, figs, oranges, peaches, cherries are used. A jar of delicious country jam brought from Greece will delight you in winter. Sweets in molasses or sugar syrup are also traditional, mainly dried fruits and seeds (nuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios).

In a word, when you come to Greece, try the wonderful Greek sweets, and the tiles delicate chocolate and take the most delicious walnut gozinaki with you to your homeland, surprise your friends and relatives with sweet souvenirs from Greece.

Never, never, never refuse dessert in Greece! Because, firstly, he is always incredibly beautiful, and secondly, it hurts and offends the owners. Despite the fact that before this the table was first bursting with snacks, in the second round it was filled with giant dishes with the second, if you offer to end the meal on this, the Greeks with a sweet tooth, like babies deprived of candy, will be upset, disappointed, discouraged, in a word, between you an iron curtain of misunderstanding will fall, which is much worse than any language barrier.

Desserts from Crete

I tried to do this a couple of times. Once, during lunch in Crete, when it was already hard to think that the stomach would take even a milligram of food, I said that they might not bring me dessert.

"What, you don't like sweets?" several people exclaimed. It seems that in the blink of an eye I have become a general enemy. “No, I’m just already full,” such an excuse was ridiculed, saying that if I don’t try the best creation of the cook, into which he has invested all his skill, soul and something else, then from now on he will refuse to feed me at all .

I had to try everything. But from that day on, they still looked at me with distrust all week, constantly looking into the plate and carefully watching so that I would not try to do any such trick a second time.

By the way, the dessert was really beyond praise! I especially liked it with a fresh white light soufflé-like manouri cheese from sheep milk, sprinkled with fragrant honey, and xerotigana brushwood.

Did you know that this popular deep-fried delicacy - brushwood - comes from Greece? To be honest, until I ended up in Crete, I never thought about it. It turns out that in the 19th century it came to St. Petersburg through Little Russia, whose inhabitants spied it from their Byzantine neighbors.

In fact, xerotigana is considered a wedding dessert in Crete, but many Greeks cook it for both the feast and the world. You can try it too - here.

Labor-intensive sweets and not so

On one of my next Greek trips, I almost shied away from coffee with sweets for the second time.

Sweet buffet in Greece is a serious threat to the figure

It happened on the peninsula of Halkidiki at a time when the endless dinner had almost become breakfast. I tried to escape, citing fatigue, the fact that in the morning (after a couple of hours) I had to get up early. I again heard the same question about sweets and felt like the most treacherous traitor.

As a result, the rest of the night had to calm the disappointed hosts, listening to how they tried and thought about the menu, how they selected each dish and how much time their chef spent preparing dessert. Yes indeed, some Greek dishes incredibly laborious.

For example, the Greeks love phyllo puff pastry. It is very elastic, after baking it turns out tender, thin, slightly crunchy melting in your mouth. But it is extremely difficult to make it - you need to roll it out and stretch it until it becomes like a sheet of paper. So, if you want to cook something Greek, the dough is better to buy.

From filo you can make huge pies with feta, spinach, chicken, small envelopes with various fillings and, of course, sweet nut baklava, poured with honey syrup. There is something original in all these sweets. Sometimes they are made from products familiar from antiquity: from honey (instead of sugar, which was not yet known at that time), from milk, olive oil, wheat flour.

But sometimes there are recipes from borrowed products. For example, from walnuts, so named only because they were brought to Russia by Greek merchants. One of my favorite Greek pies caridopita – tender pie with walnuts. It is best to do it the day before the celebration, so that it is well soaked. Try to cook it.

Do you remember that the main rule is to try sweets? However, more than your refusal of dessert, Greek culinary specialists can only be upset if you compare their sweets with Turkish ones.

Forget that you ate almost the same baklava in Istanbul or ate almost the same kind of brushwood in Anatolia - all this is not important if you do not want to hurt the quivering hearts of local Greek chefs.

The Greeks consider their goodies (even if it's Turkish-style coffee) to be unique. However, this feeling is mutual: a few years ago, real demonstrations took place in Istanbul demanding to protect the primordial Turkish dish baklava from Greek encroachments. But oh Turkish sweets I'll tell you some other time...

Greeks are considered one of the biggest sweet tooth in the world. On the territory of the country, there is, perhaps, not a single person who would not be happy to go to zacharoplastio (confectionery shop). Sweets in the country are an invariable attribute of a table set for a holiday or an everyday meal.

During the long years of the rule of the Byzantine Empire, which harmoniously combined the traditions of dozens of different peoples, a wide variety of oriental dishes were brought to Hellas, which eventually became national. Further in the article you will find a description of the most diverse, unusually delicious Greek sweets, recipes and photos of which are waiting for you in this material.

About desserts

In Greece, nuts (almonds, walnuts, pistachios) and honey (most often thyme) serve as the main components for sweets. For some Greek sweets, they use semolina(for halva), vegetable oil, dried fruits, cream, milk, cheese. And a sheet of puff pastry, prepared with your own hands, is one of the main components in cooking.

Among the popular Greek sweets are quince marshmallow, galaktoboureko, Turkish delight. Greek jam is also famous, which is made from quince, oranges, figs, cherries and peaches. Sweets in sugar syrup or molasses can also be called traditional desserts - these are most often bones (nuts, pistachios, hazelnuts and almonds) and dried fruits.

Dessert groups

All oriental sweets, including Greek, can be divided into three groups:

1. Sugar confectionery - nishallo (sugar vermicelli), crystalline sugar, nogul (amphora sugar with spices).
2. Products like soft sweets - Turkish delight, nougat, sherbet, whipped delight, kos-halva, chuch-hela, etc.
3. Flour products - baklava (baklavas), mutaki, kurabiedes cookies, kyata and other various cookies and pies based on butter, biscuit, shortcrust, puff pastry.

Kourabiedes

This is one of the most delicious traditional Greek sweets. It is prepared during the period of Epiphany and Christmas. Kourabiedes differs from other species shortbread cookies one that contains almonds and immediately after baking is rolled in powdered sugar. In the manufacture of cognac, vanilla or mastic are added to it for flavoring. You will need:

• 200 g sl. oils;
• 1 egg;
• 200 g chopped almonds;
• 1 ½ st. powdered sugar;
• 300 g flour (preferably high quality);
• 2 tbsp. l. vanilla sugar;
• 30 g almonds;
• 13 g of baking powder.

How to cook

1. Combine dry ingredients: almonds, flour, vanilla sugar, baking powder.
2. We grind the softened butter until white, pour sugar into it, beat well and add the yolk during the process, and then combine the dry ingredients with the egg-butter mixture, knead the dough. It should be elastic and not stick to your hands.
3. Form balls from pieces of dough.
4. In the middle of each we put a whole almond nut (1-2 pcs.) And spread it on a sheet covered with baking paper.
5. Bake for 20 minutes at 180°C.
6. Sprinkle finished cookies powdered sugar(you can see a Greek sweet in the photo - kourabiedes).

Loukoumades

This dish is airy, very tender donuts wrapped in sweet syrup. In order to prepare 1 kg of sweets, take:

• 500 g flour;
• 32 g dry yeast;
• 27 g of salt and sugar;
• 500 ml very cold water;
• 600 ml vegetable oil for frying.

For syrup:

• 1.5 tsp honey;
• 200 ml of water;
• 20 g lemon;
• 250 g sugar.

Cooking technology

1. Pour yeast, salt and sugar into flour. Flour must be sifted to give the dough a more tender and airy structure.
2. Gradually pour ice water into the resulting mixture and knead the dough for a quarter of an hour, after which we cover the container with the product with a napkin or cling film and put it in a warm place for one hour for fermentation.
3. 20 minutes before the dough rises, start preparing the syrup. Pour sugar into a small bowl, fill it with water, add honey and put on the stove.
4. After the oil boils, boil it for 5 minutes, add a slice of lemon and continue to cook the same amount.
5. At the same time, heat up the oil in a saucepan.
6. Form into balls with a spoon and drop into hot oil.
7. After they are well reddened, we take them out and dip them in hot syrup for 20 seconds.

We place the finished Greek sweet on a beautiful plate. Dessert should be eaten immediately after preparation, because after a short storage it can soften and lose its attractive appearance.

By the way, only when hot it has a tender, airy core and a crispy honey-caramel crust.

Baklavas (baklava)

Among Greek desserts and sweets, the popular pastry baklavas. It is prepared from an exhaust unleavened dough filo, thin as papyrus paper (translated from Greek, "filo" means "leaf"). The preparation of such a dough is a real art and is passed down in every family from mother to daughter.

Ingredients needed for the test:

• half a kilo of flour;
• 200-250 g of warm water (depending on the quality of the flour);
• ½ tsp salt;
• 30 ml of olive oil;
• 1 tsp Sahara;
• some cornstarch.

For filling:

• 100 g of pistachios, hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts;
• 3 art. l. Sahara;
• 1 tsp chopped cloves and cinnamon;
• 1 cracker (chopped in a blender).

For syrup:

• 200 ml of water;
• 250 g sugar;
• under Art. l. lemon juice and honey;
• 2-3 cloves;
• cinnamon stick.

To brush the dough:

• 50 ml of olive oil;
• 100 g of margarine and butter;
• egg.

Stuffing and dough

First, let's prepare the nuts. It should be remembered that they must be fresh. In this case, it is recommended to soak almonds in water for a quarter of an hour, and then peel them.

1. Grind all the nuts indicated in the recipe in a mortar. Please note: since nuts have different hardness, they should be processed separately. Crushed nuts should not be too small, but not large. They can be fried in a pan, but also separately.
2. We combine the prepared nut with sugar, cloves, cinnamon, crushed crackers and mix.
3. Sift the flour together with sugar and salt in a slide, make a well and pour in the oil and vinegar, mixing gently.
4. Add warm water and knead the dough. It should be tender, but not sticky.

Dessert cooking

• We divide the dough rolled into bundles into 10 identical parts, we form balls.
• We put them in a deep bowl and cover with a damp cotton napkin. The dough should rest for an hour at a temperature of 20 ° C.

• We take out 1 ball in turn and roll out the dough, it is not recommended to take everything at once, because it can dry out.
• In order for the dough not to stick to the table and to the rolling pin, sprinkle them with cornmeal.
• Roll out into very thin sheets, the size of a baking sheet.
• For Greek sweets, coat the first sheet well with a mixture of oils (olive and cream), margarine and eggs. Definitely warm. This is necessary for the baklava to be crispy.
• We coat each subsequent sheet in the same way and lay it on the previous one.
• On 4 spread 1/3 of the filling and cover with the fifth sheet, oil the dough again and sprinkle with ½ of the remaining nut filling.
• Cover with a clean sheet, grease again and lay out the rest of the nuts.
• After that, we lay the remaining sheets in turn, oiling them well.
• Let the baklava stand for about 10 minutes, and then carefully cut into diamonds. We use carnation buds as decoration, for one portioned piece- one button.
• We bake baklava (covered with foil) in the oven for about half an hour at 180 ° C.
• After that, remove the foil and reduce the temperature to 140 ° C.

Let the finished product cool for 1 hour.

Syrup

At this time, prepare the syrup. For this you need:

1. Boil water with honey, cinnamon, cloves and sugar.
2. Remove from heat and add lemon juice.

Warm baklava is poured with still hot syrup and served better the next day, when it is well soaked.

- big sweet tooth. It is impossible to imagine an adult or a child in Greecewho would not rejoice at the next trip to zacharoplastio (confectionery shop). Sweets are also an integral part of any table, from the usual reception of guests to a solemn wedding banquet. For a thousand years of domination of the Byzantine Empire, which combined the traditions of dozens of peoples, a huge amount of oriental dishes, which have become national over time. This article will focus on the most popular confectionery products.
One of the most favorite Greek delicacies baklava(baklavas).

By the look Greek baklava very reminiscent of a puff pastry stuffed with nuts, sesame seeds, raisins, soaked in sweet cinnamon syrup. It has almost nothing to do with fried baklava, which is sold by the hundreds on the beaches of the Black Sea resorts. History has preserved the mention of one of the Turkish Sultan's court chefs. He wrote in his cookbook that the first baklava was prepared and presented to Sultan Mehmed II in August 1453. It is not surprising that this happened in August, because in May of the same year the Byzantine capital fell under the blows of the Ottoman Empire.

The next Greek delicacy is Turkish Delight.

These sweets have a history of over 400 years and were brought to Greece from the east in the 17th century. Lokum it has taken root in the country so much that even in the monasteries of Athos it has become a traditional treat for pilgrims. Loukoumades are made from a large amount of sugar and glucose with the addition of various aromatic and color additives. Almonds and pistachios only complement the range of taste sensations of this unearthly delicacy, which is not only very tasty, but also useful for some diseases of the digestive system.

Another famous dessert that you should definitely try is loukoumades. Dessert is donuts with a lot of sugar syrup or condensed milk. Donuts are made from yeast dough with the addition of fruit or cheese and fried in boiling oil. small loukoumades sprinkled with powdered sugar or coconut flakes The Greeks eat with a fork.
Greek jam is in demand all over the world. An amazing variety of fruits, makes it the most diverse. Considering the fact that even oranges grow on the streets, we can safely say that any Greek confectioner knows all the intricacies of preparing this dessert from his youth.

Also popular in Greece galaktombureko(Γαλακτομπούρεκο) - roll with milk filling, kadefi - honey sweets, halva (not very similar to that produced in the CIS countries), ravani and samali – Greek pastries, profiteroles- biscuits with various types mousse, cream root - waffle tube co sweet stuffing or condensed milk and delicious courabiedes – crumbly biscuits. At weddings, guests are given bonbonnieres - gourmet sweets, consisting of nuts and fruits, filled with a special cream or chocolate.

Greek mythology

Athens. Standing Attala

Standing Attala - a long gallery - a portico was built by the king of Pergamum Attalus II (159-138 BC), as a gift to the Athenians. Attalus spent a lot of time in Athens, learning philosophy and other sciences. Stoya is a large two-storey complex portico with a double colonnade and rows of shopping arcades behind the colonnade. The building was made from local materials: marble for the façade and columns, and limestone for the walls. The building was 116 meters long and was designed for 42 trading places. From that time on, the Stoa became the largest trading building in Athens, until it was destroyed by the ancient Germanic Heruli tribe in 267 AD. e. From its remnants, the city walls of Athens were fortified.

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As the name suggests, this is a rice dish. Most national cuisines there is something like rizogalo. In England - rice pudding, in Germany - milchraise, in Italy - budino de riso, and here it is called sweet rice porridge th.

Rizogalo is not a purely dessert dish, it can be prepared with or without sugar. But, according to tourists, in a sweet form it is much tastier. Rizogalo without sugar is sometimes eaten for breakfast, as such a dish is nutritious and good for the stomach.

A feature of the Greek version is the abundant addition of cinnamon, which makes its taste unusual for many Russians. Dried fruits and nuts are also placed on top.

Rizogalo differs from our usual milk rice porridge in consistency. The Greek dish is more overcooked. Still, in rice porridge, we are used to tasting hard rice grains.

Vasilopita

One of the most interesting sweet dishes in Greece. Unfortunately, its preparation is timed to a certain day, and the vast majority of tourists fail to try it. It is prepared on January 1 of each year, on the day of St. Basil of Caesarea, and not the new year, as is commonly believed. The cake itself is named after this saint.

The shape of the pie is usually round and it is cut into triangular pieces. Each member of the family is entitled to one piece.

One of the participants in the feast comes across a special piece in which there will be a coin. It is believed that this is a great success and the next year will be happy for this person.

The first conclusion is that you need to be careful eating vasilopite pie, otherwise a happy year may begin for you with a trip to the dentist.

If one of the family members is absent from the table, then a piece of the pie is left for him until he arrives. There is also a tradition to put a piece of paper with a wish in each piece, and everyone who took their piece of the pie must read it aloud. But in Greece, this custom is not as common as, for example, in Bulgaria, where cornel tree branches are used instead of pieces of paper.

In terms of composition and recipe, there is nothing unusual about vasilopita. Flour, yeast, eggs, salt, butter and sugar. To improve the taste, nuts, dried apricots or other dried fruits are added to it.

Of course, this is not a complete list of national Greek sweets, it can be continued for a long time. And we invite you to read other articles about Greece ( the list below).