The trademark of Clean Monday is the lagana
There are some rules for every celebration that includes food customs. The following also applies to Clean Monday:
Share and donate to friends and family what is left of the exquisite treats at the end of the day. Don’t start thinking that once a year you eat these and when you will find them again, etc. You can make a beautiful taramo salad on other days of the year as well, and make a clean Sunday the other month as well.
Below you will find four great recipes from our favorite blogs. Classic lagana, semolina halva, crispy pies to fill with whatever you want and sweet pumpkin pie.
Semolina halva with nuts
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What you will need:
- 2 tea cups fine semolina 1 tea cup olive oil 5 tea cups water
- 2 tea cups brown sugar Nuts
How to make it:
- Heat the olive oil in a deep saucepan, and add the semolina without letting it burn, stirring constantly. At the same time, boil the syrup for 3 minutes, the sugar, the water, the honey, a cinnamon stick and lemon peels. When the semolina is ready, add the nuts and pour the hot syrup, mixing carefully because it splashes a lot. A little bit at a time. This whole process should be done on medium heat. Add a teaspoon of cinnamon.
- In 5 minutes it is ready, it has absorbed the liquid and we can put it in a form. When it cools, we can take it out of the mold and decorate it with honey, nuts and cinnamon.
Lagana
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The trademark of Clean Monday is lagana and it is the unleavened bread that is made in a traditional way in Greece only on this day and marks the beginning of the fasting of Great Lent, writes the beloved food blogger and gives us the one old family recipe with yeast which has passed into her hands from her grandmother.
For 6 servings you need 40 minutes and:
- 1 kg of hard flour for bread
- 25 gr. fresh yeast
- 1/2 tsp. lukewarm water
- 2 tbsp. extra warm water for kneading
- 2 tbsp. white sugar
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tbsp. salt
For the topping:
- sesame seeds for sprinkling
How to make it:
- In a large bowl, put the fresh yeast, after rubbing it with our hands and add the 1/2 cup of water and three full tablespoons of the flour and mix with a spoon to dissolve well. Cover with a transparent film and leave in a warm place to activate for 15 minutes.
- Pour the flour into the mixer bowl and make a well in the middle and add the yeast mixture, sugar, olive oil and two cups of warm water and mix with the hook at low speed. Add the salt and continue with the hook for 5 minutes until you get a soft and pliable dough. Divide the dough into two balls and put them in two glass bowls and cover with transparent film and place in a warm place for 45 minutes until they double in volume. Then put each ball on a floured surface and open it with the rolling pin in an oblong shape.
- Place in a pan with greaseproof paper (not both in the same pan), cover with a clean towel and leave for 45 minutes to rise. Then we press with our fingertips, making dimples everywhere and with a brush we smear the surface of the laganna with a little water and sprinkle with plenty of sesame seeds.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for 15-20 minutes and when they are ready, serve.
Crispy pies
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Wholemeal flour pies with a strong sesame flavor. Lagana has something special that everyday bread doesn’t. It’s not just the shape or the sesame. It’s the tahini in the dough and it makes all the difference! Whenever a variant of the much-loved lagana, in the shape of a pie, without yeast, ready in about half an hour.
Because they are particularly tasty, they “endure” strongly flavored filling, they are not lost in the flavors of the dip and the shrimp.
Ingredients for 6 pies: 100g all-purpose flour 50g wholemeal flour 80-90g lukewarm water 1 tbsp. tahini a little salt 1-2 tbsp. mixed sesame seeds
Dissolve the tahini in the water and add to the rest of the ingredients. Make the dough and leave it to rest for 20 minutes covered in an oiled bowl. Divide into 6 equal pieces and open the leaves with your hands or with a rolling pin on an oiled surface. Bake in a cast iron or simple pan (no extra oil is needed for the pan). While they are hot, we can give them the shape of tacos.
For the avocado-yogurt dip: 1 avocado 2-3 tbsp. yogurt (you can skip it if you want them to be fasting) 1 lemon, juice and a little zest a little paprika a little olive oil salt and freshly ground pepper
You can save the recipe for future use.
Fasting sweet pumpkin pie
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What you will need:
- For the dough: 500 gr. wheat flour of Lemnos @lemnos_bakery about 300 ml water (maybe you need a little more) 2 tbsp vinegar 2 tbsp oil 2 tbsp starch A little salt (A little flour, and starch for opening the leaves)
- For the filling: 700 gr. grated pumpkin 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts 1 cup cranberries
How to make it:
Put all the ingredients in a bowl except the water and mix by hand. Slowly add the water and start kneading. We want our dough to be soft and not stick to our hands. Cover with a towel and let it rest for half an hour. Then divide into 9 balls and open with a rolling pin in a round shape. Lightly oil the foil and cut the dough in half and spread the filling with a spoon. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon and sugar. wrap carefully and apply olive oil with a brush. Place in an oiled pan and bake at 180° for about 35″. Remove from the oven, add syrup and place in the oven for another 7″.
- For the filling: Put the pumpkin in a perforated bowl and sprinkle with enough sugar and mix by hand. Let it drain the liquid, drain it well and put the liquid in a milk jug with a cup of sugar, 1 stick of cinnamon and two cloves to boil. Then put the pumpkin, walnuts and cranberries in a bowl and mix with a spoon.
- For the syrup: Put the juice from the pumpkin in a milk jug and add a cup of sugar, 2 cinnamon sticks and 2 cloves and boil for about a quarter of an hour.
Source: Skai
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