These Dishes Are Greek to Me Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tzatziki

While many supermarkets and deli shops sell ready-made tzatziki, it is rather easy to make it yourself.
Just peel a cucumber, cut into small chunks and put them in yoghurt. Add olive oil, lemon juice and seasoning (salt and pepper according to taste, also garlic, dill or mint).

Answer: Taramasalata

Taramasalata is another typical Greek appetizer you can buy ready-made. But if you manage to find the fish roe, it is quite easy to make yourself.
Mix fish roe with olive oil and lemon juice, and add bread or boiled potatoes to thicken the sauce.

Answer: Spanakopita

Spanakopita translates literally to spinach pie.
Basically you need phyllo dough and a filling consisting of spinach, feta cheese and eggs. Of course you need some seasoning too: salt, pepper, garlic, nutmeg.
One of the major difficulties of spanakopita is that the filling should not be too moist: otherwise you soak the dough and end up with soggy pies.

Answer: Dolmades

Dolmades are stuffed leaves of the vine (or alternatively cabbage leaves).
The first step is to make the filling: boil rice with glazed onions, herbs and seasoning, and drain excessive moisture.
Then you fill the vine leaves. Take care: this is the trickiest part of the preparation.
Finally cook the parcels and let cool off. Serve cold as an appetizer.
An alternative version is to add minced meat to the rice filling. Meat dolmades are usually served hot as a main course.

Answer: Fasolada

Fasolada is a tasty soup of white beans.
Start with some classic soup vegetables: onion, carrot, celery. Add white beans, water, olive oil and seasoning and let simmer for half an hour.
This soup can be served as a complete meal.

Answer: Kakavia

Kakavia is the typical soup for Cretan fishermen and fishmongers.
Prepare a fish broth with whole fish (including fish head and fish bones), potatoes, carrots, celery and tomatoes. When the broth is ready, fillet the fish, add some seasoning and olive oil and let simmer for at least half an hour.

Answer: Kleftiko

Searching kleftiko recipes on the internet can give you very strange results. The first recipe I found (on the Food Network) was not with lamb but with salmon, and not slowly cooked but served cold with mayonnaise. It may be tasty, but it is definitely no kleftiko. I found a correct recipe on mygreekdish.com for six persons.
When we talk about "slowly cooked", this is indeed meant literally so. Total preparation time of the following recipe is at least four hours and a half.
First of all you need to marinate lamb chops (with the bones) for at least two hours in a mixture of olive oil, white wine, vegetables (onions, bell peppers), herbs and spices. Toss the ingredients regularly with your hands to ascertain that the flavours blend together.
After the marinade is ready, put the lamb chops in parchment paper. Add potatoes, vegetables and the marinade, tie up the parcels, and cook the whole preparation for at least two hours and a half in a medium hot oven.

Answer: Moussaka

Moussaka is a very popular Greek dish, resembling the Italian lasagna. But instead of pasta it uses aubergines (eggplants) and/or courgettes (zucchini), sometimes also with potatoes.
Fry some aubergines in olive oil. Prepare a meat sauce with minced meat (Greeks will prefer lamb), tomatoes, carrots, onions and celery, all baked in olive oil. Then prepare the cheese sauce: heat some butter with flour and add seasoning. Whisk in milk until you have a smooth sauce, and add grated cheese.
Then you have to assemble the dish. Start with a layer of fried aubergines (and potatoes or courgettes), add the meat sauce and cover with the cheese sauce. Depending on the quantity you prepare and the measure of your pot, you may need to repeat this layering once or twice. Make sure the top layer is the cheese sauce. Top with grated cheese and bake in a hot oven.

Answer: Portokalopita

This is a tasty dessert based upon oranges.
For the recipe, start with making a syrup of water, sugar and orange zest.
Then prepare the cake filling: mix yoghurt, orange juice, sugar and corn oil with a zest of orange and add some baking powder. Fill a tray with phyllo dough, add the filling, and cover with phyllo dough. Bake in a hot oven.
The final step is to pour the syrup over the hot cake, let the cake absorb the syrup, and let everything cool down.

Answer: Baklava

Baklava is a sweet dessert available in a broad region of the Middle East. In most parts of Greece baklava is made usually with walnuts, while in Turkey people prefer pistachios. But almonds can be used as well, and eclectic cooks can try to mix the three kinds of nuts. The basic recipe is to chop the nuts, add some seasoning (for instance cinnamon) and bake in butter.

This will serve as the filling for phyllo dough. While you bake the baklava, make some syrup with honey, sugar and water, the zest of an orange and (optionally) some cinnamon.

When the baklava is ready, pour the syrup over and let absorb. Then serve after cooling down.