Cyprus Foods Glossary

Afelia – pork cooked in red wine and crushed coriander seeds
Arni – lamb
Avgolemono soup – egg and lemon soup
Bacaliaros – hake
Barbouni – red mullet
Baklava – fillo pastry with nuts and syrup
Bourekia – small puff pastries with meat, cheese or cream cheese filling
Daktyla – almond finger pastries
Elioti – olive bread
Elies tsakistes – cracked green olives with coriander seeds, lemon and crushed garlic
Fangri – common sea bream
Fasolia – haricot beans cooked in a casserole
Feta – salty white cheese usually crumbled on village salads
Flaounes – Cypriot Easter cakes made from cheese and spices
Glyko – preserved fruits in syrup
Halloumi – firm goats’ or ewes’ milk cheese, often served grilled
Hirino – pork
Hiromeri – marinated, smoked and pressed ham
Horiatiki salata – village salad of white cabbage, tomato, cucumber, capers, olives, onion, feta and fresh coriander
Houmous – dip from soaked, crushed chickpeas
Kalamari – squid
Kapari – pickled capers
Karaoli yahni – snails in tomato sauce
Keftedes – meat balls with mint
Kleftiko ofto – lamb or goat wrapped in foil with herbs and baked in sealed oven
Kolokotes – pastries stuffed with red pumpkin, raisins and pourgouri
Kotopoulo – chicken
Koupepia or dolmades – stuffed vine leaves
Koupes – cigar shaped wheat cases with meat filling
Lethrini – red bream
Loukoumades – small doughnuts served in syrup
Lountza – smoked and marinated loin of pork
Louganika – Cyprus sausages
Marida – whitebait
Moungra – pickled cauliflower
Moussakas – a pie made from layers of minced beef, spices and vegetable with a cheese topping
Octapodi krasato – octopus in red wine
Pitta – flat envelope of unleavened bread
Pourgouri pilafi – pilaf of cracked wheat
Psari – fish
Ravioli – pasta stuffed with halloumi and mint
Resi – wheat and lamb pilaf, served at weddings
Rizogalo – rice pudding served with sprinkled cinnamon
Sargos – white bream
Sheftalia – minced pork and herb rissole
Souvla – large chunks of lamb cooked on a spit
Souvlakia – kebabs
Sparos – two-banded bream
Stifado – rich beef and onion stew
Tahini – sesame seed paste, served as a dip
Taramosalata – dip made from smoked cod roe
Tigania – omelette with courgettes, mushrooms or artichokes.
Tonnos – bluefin tuna
Trahanas- soup from cracked wheat and yogurt
Tsipoura — gilthead sea bream
Ttavas – a stew cooked in an earthenware pot
Tzantziki/talattouri – yoghurt, cucumber and mint dip
Vlachos – grouper
Vodino – beef
Xiphios – swordfish
Yemista – baked stuffed vegetables with rice and minced beef
Zalatina – brawn