Tirokafteri

A Savoury-dish recipe, by Gina Lioti.

4 servings

5 mins prep

10 mins (optional) cooking

“Tirokafteri can be used as a dip for bread, bread sticks or vegetables (such as celery and carrot sticks), as an appetizer or as a side. It goes especially well with meats, but also with other meze.”

Gina Lioti

Here’s why you’re going to love this

You can line your pitta breads or fajitas when making gyros or souvlaki sandwiches, topping with the meat, vegetables and/or potatoes. You can make it as spicy as you can handle, using any kind of chillies you prefer, red or green or both, from Jalapeños to habanero and naga. You can also put your chillies in the oven for 15 minutes, place them in a closed bag to make them sweat and after a few minutes peel them. This makes them more tender, but the crunchiness of the raw chillies is nice too.

This version of tirokafteri is the northern Greek one; there are many more, but this is my favourite.

Ingredients

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Instructions

Using a knife, slice the chilli peppers and cut them in small cubes.
Drain the feta and put it on a deep plate and add the olive oil and vinegar. Using a fork, press the feta until it is almost a paste. The olive oil and vinegar help make it softer, so it is easier to process it.
Add the chopped chillies, black pepper, cayenne pepper and chilli flakes and mix well.
You can top with a little olive oil, cayenne pepper and/or chilli flakes.

Final notes

Alternatively, you can place the chillies into a processor for a few seconds and then add the feta cheese and the rest of the ingredients, until they are all a smooth paste. It is easier and faster this way, but the final product loses its texture. Although I am not a big fan of feta, I am a huge fan of chilli peppers and I prefer the first method. It is much more interesting, as the feta and chillies are more or less crumbly at places or bigger or smaller pieces, respectively. But as with everything edible, it is a matter of preference.