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A quintessential seafood delicacy of the Greek island of Symi, simiako garidaki or Symi shrimp is a unique variety of tiny shrimps that inhabit the sea around the island. Bright red, delicate, and sweet, the small crustaceans are packed with flavor, which has made them famous throughout the whole country and beyond.
The most common way to enjoy these tiny crustaceans is crispy-fried in olive oil and garlic, typically seasoned with nothing else than salt and pepper. Due to their delicate nature, the fried shrimps are usually eaten whole, including tails, shells, and heads.
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These flavorful fritters employ diced tomatoes as their main ingredient, while other additions commonly include onions, fresh herbs, spices, feta cheese and grated zucchinis. The dish is usually associated with Santorini, an island known for the highly prized local tomato variety Tomataki Santorinis.
The fritters are typically enjoyed as a light main course, a snack, or a meze dish, and are best paired with creamy fava or tzatziki dips.
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Tirenia is a traditional cheese pie hailing from the island of Kimolos. The dough is typically cut into rectangles or squares which are then topped with a portion of cheese before the edges are folded over the filling, leaving the center open. Once assembled, the cheese pies are baked until they develop a nice color and crispy crust on the outside while remaining soft and fluffy on the inside.
The cheese filling usually consists of beaten eggs, freshly ground black pepper, and crumbled local cheese such as the Kimolian manouri. This savory Greek pie often calls for using a type of yeast dough, although some versions are made with a combination of flour, warm water, olive oil, eggs, and salt.
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Pitarakia is a specialty of Milos island, consisting of small half-moon-shaped pastries filled with cheese. The pastry dough is typically made with flour, olive oil, onions, herbs, salt, and lukewarm water, while the filling may be as simple as crumbled local cheese (such as feta or manoura) mixed with freshly ground pepper.
Other variations of the cheese filling include a mixture of local mizithra cheese, eggs, spearmint, and salt, or a combination of finely chopped red onions with dry Melian cheese. There’s also a sweet version of the pastry which uses a filling of mizithra cheese, sugar, eggs, and cinnamon.
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Pitaroudia is a traditional dish originating from Rhodes. These fritters are made with a combination of chickpeas, onions, tomatoes, mint, cumin, and seasonings. The dried chickpeas are soaked, boiled, then coarsely ground and mixed with onions, grated tomatoes, mint, salt, pepper, and cumin.
The fritters are fried in olive oil until golden brown. Once done, pitaroudia is often served with tzatziki dip on the side.
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Hailing from the Greek island of Nisyros, pythia is a savory specialty based on chickpeas. It may be compared to the Middle Eastern falafel, which is prepared with similar ingredients. The chickpea fritters are typically made with a combination of ground chickpeas, onions, tomatoes, garlic, flour, spearmint or dill, salt, and pepper.
Spoonfuls or balls of the chickpea mixture are dropped into hot oil and fried until nicely browned and crispy. Pythia fritters are commonly prepared for dinner or served as a meze dish, and an almond-garlic sauce (skordalia) usually accompanies them.
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Spinialo is a traditional seafood dish originating from the island of Kalymnos. The dish consists of fouskes, sea squirts that are marinated in a bottle of seawater. These primitive marine vertebrates usually attach themselves to shells and rocks, and when cut in half, fouskes reveal a soft flesh with a strong and bitter flavor and a texture that's similar to scrambled eggs.
Spinialo was originally a fishermen's dish, made in wine bottles filled with a dash of olive oil, seawater, and fouskes. The combination was typically served on barley rusks drizzled with lemon, and it was used as a dish eaten on long sponge diving trips.
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