Taking our cue from last week’s blog post on the Easter delicacies of Chios island, we offer here a couple of local recipes which are perfect for the fastening period leading to Easter celebrations. These dishes are ideal meze (tapas) for a glass of Chios excellent ouzo or souma (the local spirit distilled from figs).

The recipes are found in the book “Traditional recipes from Kampos, Chios” where we can find a treasure of local recipes collected by the Kampos Cultural Association. The book is published by local “Aegeas” publications and can be found in Chios bookstores.

Broad beans in olive oil

1 part vinegar, 1 part lemon juice, salt

Prepare the broad beans and slice them lightly. Pour water, vinegar, salt and lemon juice in a pot. After it boils, add the broad beans and let them boil for a couple of minutes, but do not overboil them. Let them cool in the water overnight. The next day drain them and place them in a jar of olive oil.

Chickpea croquettes

Chickpeas, 1 grated onion, parsley and peppermint, oregano, ½ cup of flour

Boil the chickpeas. After they are ready, drain them and put them in the blender. Add the onion, the herbs and as much flour as necessary. Make the mix into croquettes and fry them. 

Preserved fish roe croquettes

100 grams preserved fish roe, 1 grated onion, 200 grams wet bread, some parsley, flour

We wash the preserved fish roe in cold water, we drain it and place it in a bowl. We add the rest of the ingredients and we mix it. Add some water if necessary. Leave the mix to rest for 25-30 minutes. We make the croquettes, cover them in flour and deep fry them.

Enjoy!

Do you know which sweet the Chians offer as a gift when visiting their friends living outside of Chios? Massourakia! They are delicious, made with a traditional recipe of Chios and mashed mastiha and almond. On your next visit to Chios, do not miss visiting a patisserie in order to try them out. If you still can not wait until then, we recommend a recipe to make them.

Ingredients
1 pack of Phyllo pastry, 150 g of cow butter
For stuffing
400 g sweet Chios mastic (submarine), 500 grams of almonds, zest mandarin or lemon, 2 egg whites, 1 pinch of salt
For the syrup
200 g of sugar, 200 g of water, lemon peel, 1 tsp lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of flowering water

For serving
Icing sugar, ground almonds

First grind the whitened almonds until they are finely chopped and not completely powdered and put in a bowl. In a bain marie, gently melt the Chios mastic preserve, dilute some of its texture so that you can mix it well with the rest of the ingredients. Pour it into the finely chopped almonds and zests. Stir the materials with a spoon. Beat the egg whites and the salt in a soft meringue, until peaks are formed. Gradually pour the meringue into the almonds and with a soft spatula add the other ingredients. Open the leaves on the counter, cut them in 4 pieces and cover them with a fresh towel to avoid drying. Get a square piece of phyllo and coat with melted butter, then put another phyllo on top of it. Fill in along with a little stuffing patterned like a thin cord (here can help the confectionary crown). Close the sides to seal the filling. Wrap in a tight roll. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C. Butter plate a baking pan and place your massourakia. Coat  them with as much butter as possible. Bake for about 35-40 minutes until golden brown. Prepare the syrup and keep it  warm. Once we've lowered the syrup from the heat, add the rose water, and mix. After the masks are roasted and the rosin is started, we put them all in a baking dish, they are close to each other and there are no gaps between them. As they are removed from the oven, pour them a little with the hot syrup. Let them cool all in the pan and drink their syrup well. After they cool down, we roll them to ground almond to clothe them or crack them with powdered sugar Good luck!