Authentic Dakos Recipe
Crete, Greece
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We strongly advise you to read the cooking tips before jumping to the recipe though
Introduction & history
The traditional Cretan dakos is real simple fare. Barley rusks were sprinkled with water to soften, drizzled with olive oil, and seasoned with salt and oregano. The form everyone knows today only came about in the last few decades. The typical and traditional dakos today is prepared with round barley rusks, topped with grated tomato, mizithra cheese, olive oil, salt, and pepper. It can also have capers and chopped olives as ingredients. The said version typically goes by the name koukouvagia or "owl" and not dakos, a word Cretans use for rectangle-shaped rusks.
Cooking tips
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tomatoes
The traditional recipe says to grate the tomatoes and then drain them for at least 5 minutes. If they are not drained, they will be too wet and can potentially ruin the rusks by turning them soggy. Alternatively, the tomatoes can be diced, and then there's no need to drain them. Also, using diced ones gives the dakos more texture. -
cheese
Mizithra cheese is the traditional option, but often recipes call for a mix of mizithra and feta or only feta. -
prepping the rusks
Since they are extremely dry, rusks need to be rehydrated before use. Sprinkle them with a few tablespoons of water. If need be, place them for a few seconds under running water. -
make ahead
Dakos cannot fully be made ahead since there's the danger of rusks turning soggy. However, you can prep the tomatoes ahead of time so they're ready by the time you want to serve dakos.
Dakos
PREP 20min
RESTING 5min
READY IN 25min
The following recipes shows the authentic preparation of dakos, that is round barley rusks, topped only with grated tomato, mizithra cheese, olive oil, oregano, salt, and pepper.
Ingredients
4 large barley rusks
3 large ripe tomatoes, beaten and mashed
8 tsp virgin olive oil
200g (7 oz) mizithra cheese
15 black olives, pitted, chopped, optional
1 tsp capers, optional
oregano, salt, pepper
Preparation
Lightly wet each rusk with 4 tablespoons of water and drizzle with olive oil.
Grate the tomatoes into a colander and let them drain for 5 minutes.
Crumble or grate the mizithra cheese.
To assemble, spread the grated tomato on the rusks, top with the cheese, and add capers and olives if desired. Finish with a sprinkle of salt, pepper, and oregano and an extra drizzle of olive oil.
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