Fakkes -or- Lentils, Yiayia-Style

My yiayia (Greek for grandma) lives with my aunt and her family, and my family lives two blocks away from them. This year, they decided to go on holiday out of the country. So, everyday, somebody from our family is staying with yiayia to keep her company.

At the moment, my sister and I are sitting in the kitchen table as yiayia prepares lentils. Here’s what you need and how to do it:

2-3 medium potatoes, chopped in eighths
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
3 carrots, roughly chopped
3-4 celery stalks, roughly chopped
1 lb cleaned fakkes (lentils)
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 – 1 tablespoon prepared garlic (recipe to follow)
daphne (bay leaves, 3 small or 1-2 large)
dentrolivano (rosemary, a teaspoon or less-this makes it bitter)
salt & pepper to taste
half a tablespoon of sugar

a medium or large saucepan
a large pot
water, to fill each halfway

another vessel in which to boil water (even a teapot works) and enough water to fill the rest of the pot
a large bowl

There’s some planning involved-but not much: The night before, sort through the lentils, removing any stones or foreign matter. Yiayia does this by dumping them on a large cutting board at the kitchen table. Bowl in lap, she slides the keepers off the board and into the bowl. This may take awhile, so the simpler, the better.

Set the half-filled pot and saucepan on high and put the lentils in the saucepan. Also, fill that other vessel and heat to a boil or close to it-we’ll be adding this later. In the meantime chop the onions. Fill the bowl with cold water and put the onions in to soak for several minutes. As they soak, chop the rest of the veg.

Once the veg is chopped, dump the onions through a colander, then the veg, and rinse under cold water. When the pot comes to a boil, toss in the veg.

By now, the lentils will likely be frothy from whatever dirt is on them-remove this with a spoon and discard it. After the lentils stop producing froth-about 5-7 minutes or when the water is at a rolling boil-dump them in a colander and rinse them with cool water. They should be par-blanched and still firm.

Then add them to the boiling pot and let it boil for awhile. Add the bay leaves, rosemary, oil, garlic, and the salt and pepper. Let this boil for awhile, 10 minutes or so. Yiayia puts them in a metal container so that she can take them out later. I only take out the bay leaves.

note: The soaking/rinsing/boiling processes-especially with the lentils and onions-remove the gases and make the food less likely to irritate the stomach. This of course is according to my yiayia, who heard it from a German-Jewish doctor. I do it when I have time or when I don’t want it as flavorful-the difference is noticeable. How scientifically valid it is, I don’t know.

Fill the pot almost to the top with that extra vessel of boiling water. Cover and let boil for awhile, until the soup has taken the flavors of the herbs and thickened. At this point you can mash the potatoes a bit to thicken the soup more. Yiayia pulls the herbs after you can smell them distinctly-too much of either the rosemary or bay leaves can be overwhelming. This can take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes, or longer. Also, just before it has reached the consistency you like, stir in the sugar. This is optional. At serving, you can also add a teaspoon or less of light vinegar-generally white or apple-cider. It is generally eaten with oven-dried, old bread. All these last steps add complexity to the dish.

I let it get really thick, almost to a paste, add little vinegar to each bowl, some dried bread, and finish it with a dollop of a thick Greek or Middle-Eastern style yogurt. A delicious winter meal. I also serve this cold during the summer, like gaspacho.

Prepared Garlic:

Yiayia has a mason jar of this in the fridge at all times. I’ll get a photo soon. Buy a bunch of garlic. And when I say a bunch, I mean enough to fill a mason jar or more. Simply peel the garlic and break into cloves. Use a paring knife to cut the larger cloves open. These usually have a bright green root, and as garlic gets older, this gets larger and the flavors develop more. It’s what gives garlic its heat. Yiayia takes it out so that it stores in the fridge longer and so that she can batch process it. She takes out a spoonful as she needs it. Pack the jar with the garlic and fill with extra virgin olive oil and a little salt. Not too much, as the flavors will only develop in the fridge and salt will make that flavor far more developed.