I don’t cook soup often, maybe three of four times during the whole winter and on such occasions we prefer soups like avgolemono, giouvarlakia, kreatosoupa (meat soup with beef and vegetables) or psarosoupa same as kreatosoupa but made with fish and my favourite which is trahanas.
The weather was very mild this year and until last week the temperatures were high, around 22 - 23 degrees C so this was another reason not to make soup.
The temperature has now dropped suddenly around 15 degrees and what better than a nice bowl of hot soup.
Trahanas is a traditional Greek and Cypriot dish that has passed from generation to generation. It is usually made in the villages which breed live stock. It is mainly prepared from cracked wheat flour and a curd that is fermented. It is then formed into small oval patties and dried whereas in Greece they usually sieve it into tiny pellets.
Then it is allowed to set and cool and soup can be made with trahanas, fresh as it is. When we were children we loved to eat it, before it was cooked. In the picture below you can see the fresh trahanas.
In order to preserve it for the winter, it is then shaped, and spread onto traditional shallow baskets, called tsestos or on long trestle tables or on clean sheets and left in the sun to dry.
The number of days depends on how hot the sun is. Then trahanas is stored and is used until the following year. From experience I must say that the best way to store the dried trahanas is in the refrigerator, otherwise if left outside the fridge after a long time you might get some tiny worms called “appitouria” in it.
When Trahanas is boiled just as it is, it is served very hot with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Alternatively it may be boiled the way I am giving the recipe today with fresh tomato and halloumi, which makes it much tastier and creamy.
This tasty and nutritious soup is preferred by most of the Cypriots as a comfort dish but lots of years ago when they used to get up at dawn to go to their works they used to have it for breakfast.
Trahanas soup is a light, nutritious and a hearty dish, which makes it ideal for a light supper or after coming home at dawn after a night’s drinking out and having an upset stomach, or after recuperating from an illness.
This recipe goes to Debbie, of Kahakai Kitchen, for her even Souper Sundays.
I am also sending this recipe to Yasmeen, of Health Nut for her event Healing Foods.
Other relevant recipes:
Vegetable Puree Soup with pasta
Tags: Cypriot pantry, Soups, Traditional, Trahanas
December 13th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
An interesting soup!
Cheers and have a lovely week,
Rosa
December 13th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
I used to hate trahanas as a child but don't mind it at all as an adult. This looks lovely and hearty especially with the addition of the halloumi. Hope you are feeling better.
December 13th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
What an interesting tradition, Ivy. I am trying to imagine the flavor of the soup. Thanks for the informative notes.
December 14th, 2009 at 3:18 am
I always learn so much from your posts Ivy - this is new to me.
December 14th, 2009 at 3:43 am
Different kinda soup. Great for this chilly weather.
December 14th, 2009 at 5:38 am
I' d love a bowl of that soup right now.
December 14th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Soups are must everyday to survive the chill here,wish I could slurp this warming soup with unique flavors
December 14th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
it's a very interesting soup,thanks for sharing!
December 14th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
one of my favourite soups. I love this one!
December 14th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Une soupe que je ne connais pas du tout et que j'aurais bien voulu goûter.
A bientôt.
December 14th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
I don't know this, thank you for sharing, with the cold outsite at this time, a soup will be nice
December 15th, 2009 at 4:50 am
I could eat a bowl of your soup right now. It sounds delicious and it's so cold, so a hearty hot soup would be perfect.
December 15th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
This soup looks so unique and interesint, never seen anything like it Ivy!
December 15th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
I am not a big fan for the soups…well, but this soup looks so tempting .
December 16th, 2009 at 3:36 am
I love to make soups during the winter season! This looks so nice and I love the addition of haloumi!
December 16th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Ivy, I don't eat traxana all that often but your soup is the most appetizing that I have seen. In the winters, it's one soup a week here…love them!
December 19th, 2009 at 8:18 am
Interesting post and a great looking soup. Thanks for sending it along to Souper Sundays–nice to have you back this week!
Aloha,
Deb
December 20th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
That soup looks good! I have been wanting to try trahanas. I will have to look for it again.