Afelia is a Cypriot traditional dish which my mother used to cook for us quite often. I spiced it up a bit, giving my own twist, by adding cumin and bay leaves, which went well with this dish. The potatoes are optional but I always add them because my children like it this way.
My mother would also add potatoes, but sometimes when she didn’t, she would accompany it with a bulgur wheat pilaf. My children prefer it with potatoes so most of the times I cook it this way. If you want to try it with the pilaf see the recipe but do not add the leftover meat. Instead of water you may add chicken stock.
The traditional way of making this dish was to fry the potatoes in a lot of olive oil and then the meat. Both were then transferred to a saucepan with all the oil and the marinade, water was added and was cooked until the meat and potatoes were soft.
I no longer cook it that way but using a sauteing pan, I use less oil which makes it much healthier but reserving it’s original flavour.
The recipe is included in my cookbook.
Tags: afelia, Cypriot, Pork, Traditional
Ahhh, I can see why your family loves this dish…that marinade would do the trick.
Also, I can see (as my mom told me) that Cypriot cuisine uses a lot of Coriander and the seeds.
Yes we do use the coriander seeds and well as the fresh in our salads, eliopita etc., and I love it.
That’s an alternative way to cook pork and it seems very easy…. Instead of coriander seeds can we also use fresh corriander?
Interesting question. Actually I don’t know. But any way, even if you do use fresh coriander, I am sure it will turn out to be something else. Unfortunately I do not find fresh coriander in Greece to try it. So, I will stick to the crushed coriander seeds.
[...] Serve hot with crusty olive bread. Also try Ivy’s version cooked with potatoes. [...]
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