With the arrival of Easter, everybody looks forward to breaking the fast with meat, dairy, and all the other goods they denied themselves. Although magaritsa and roasted lamb are famous, every part of Greece has their own unique foods they eat on Easter.
The Mouuri of Kalymnos
In Kalymnos, it is customary on Easter day to choose stuffed lamb, which is called Mouuri. While they rub the outside of the lamb with a mixture consisting of paste, butter, salt and pepper, they prepare the filling.
Boil the chopped offal for a while and then fry them with olive oil in a non-stick pan together with the onions. Add some tomato paste, salt, pepper and add the chopped offal. They are baked for a while and then we add the rice with a little extra water and let them boil slightly.
Then, with a hole puncher, stuff the lamb and sew it up. The clay vessel in which we place it is called mouuri, and it is to this that the recipe owes its name. We cover it with aluminum foil and bake it in a traditional wood-fired oven from the evening of Holy Saturday until early noon on Easter Sunday.
We seal the mouth of the oven with mud, so that it traps all the heat.
Byzanti in Olympos Karpathos and Patoudos in Naxos
Something similar happens in Olympus of Karpathos, with the difference that, here, they call it Byzanti. With the unsealing of the oven on the morning of Easter Sunday, the feast is set up which will usually last until the late afternoon.
Naxos, which, among other things, is also known for its rich poultry tradition, on Easter, serves lamb, specifically Patoudos.
The excellent raw material of meat, from animals that live freely on the island, as well as the tender spring greens that will accompany the rice in the filling, give an amazing and delicious result.
The Tsilihourdas of Corfu
Tsilihourda, the stew of Corfu. It resembles curd and is eaten with a fork. Its main ingredient is the lamb liver, where depending on the version we will find it, either with wild herbs, or with collard greens, myrtle, lettuce and various other vegetables, depending on how early or late Easter is.
In its most classic and popular version, it is slow-cooked and marinated in oil. However, we may find it poached, or even with red sauce.
The emblematic Lambriatis in Andros
In Andros, on the other hand, they prepare Lambriatis with goat and an exuberant filling of fresh cheeses from the island, such as petroti, malachto and volaki.
In addition, the filling needs eggs, livers, sweets and rice. Aromatics, such as mint and dill, will balance the flavours with the rest of the ingredients. After being covered with rosemary leaves, it will ideally be baked in a wood-fired oven.
READ MORE: The best tsourekia in Athens.
