Greek at heart, Levantine in spices. A Cypriot Cookbook

Bring the flavours of Cyprus home: halloumi sizzling on the grill, slow-baked kleftiko, Easter flaounes fragrant with mint, and honey-soaked loukoumades from the village festival.

Cypriot cooking is Greek at heart but shaped by ten thousand years of history. Byzantine monks, crusader knights, Venetian merchants and Ottoman cooks all left their mark. The result is a cuisine all its own, bright with coriander seed, cumin, cinnamon, dried mint and rose water.

This book gathers more than 80 recipes that Cypriot families actually cook, from weekday stews to holiday feasts:

• Mezedes and dips: talattouri, taramosalata, koupes, halloumi bourekia, zalatina and fermented moungra

• Breads and pastries: sesame koulouri, olive bread, kolokotes and Easter flaounes

• Soups and pulses: avgolemono, trahanas and Lenten louvana

• Meat and fish: souvla, sheftalia, kleftiko, afelia, tavas, octopus in red wine and fried salt cod

• Vegetables and salads: kolokasi, patates antinaktes and a whole run of beet dishes

• Sweets: galatopoureko, daktyla, kourabiedes, vasilopita, samali and rose-scented mahalepi

• Drinks: Cypriot coffee, the brandy sour and Commandaria

Inside you’ll also find:

• A history of Cypriot food, from the island’s first farmers to today

• A pantry guide with substitutes for cooks outside Cyprus

• US cup measures with metric weights, and oven temperatures in °F and °C

• Many meat- and dairy-free dishes for Lent and plant-based cooks

• A feast-day calendar showing what is cooked for Easter, Christmas, Clean Monday and more

Whether you grew up with a Cypriot yiayia or first tasted halloumi on holiday, this book will put the island on your table.