Rain, rain go away … or just make trahana while watching Ben Hur. I think trahana is the marmite of Cypriot food. Love it, hate it. Everyone has an opinion. My favourite opinion was that “only little old ladies over the age of 85 make it”. While funny, it’s not true! I know lots of people “my age” who eat it. It is my lazy, winter food. … and lazy spring, summer, and autumn food too. And while I personally think it is delicious, I know certain people would disagree. I quote “it looks and tastes like vomit”. I reply “OK, it is an acquired taste”. Anyway, I came across a recipe and had to try it. It jazzed trahana up with the addition of onion, chestnuts, butter and blue cheese. I must admit I was a bit skeptical at first. OK, very skeptical. As I was making it, my inner dialogue kept saying “are you really going to eat this?” But I was really curious to find a recipe that uses trahana with the addition of something other than tomato or halloumi. Verdict: The soup itself was not my cup of tea. The onion sweetened the trahana too much for my liking and, and I just didn’t like the combination of ingredients. But I thought the combination of blue cheese with trahana worked OK – if you like blue cheese. So next time, I will just make trahana and add a little blue cheese at the end. But my favourite combination, will always be trahana with a freshly grated tomato and some pieces of halloumi. I have included both recipes below.
Level of Difficulty: 2/5Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Makes about one normal sized portion
ingredients
1 cup trahana
2 cups water
blue cheese to add on top OR one grated tomato and about 1/4 cup of cubed halloumi
recipe
1. Boil the water in a pot.
2. Add the trahana and cook it on medium heat until the trahana breaks down and the mixture turns thick and is cream coloured. Add salt or half a chicken stock cube while cooking if you wish.
With blue cheese:
3a. Place into a bowl and sprinkle as much blue cheese on top as you would like.
With tomato and halloumi:
3b. Add one grated tomato and halloumi while the trahana is cooking and continue to cook until the tomato has mixed in well.
