Tricolored Veggie Trahanas

Most of you know my love for everything homemade; I have expressed it many times. Those who keep track of my posts you’ve seen my efforts for homemade candies, nougat, unsweetened applesauce, hot chocolate mix, and yogurt cheese. What I have not said is that sometimes grips us, mother and daughter, a desire for creativity on which we are able to turn the house upside down …. Well, we ‘ve experienced such one  recently … and within a few days we made homemade trahana (a Greek traditional food made with cracked wheat and fresh milk), the tricolored veggie trahana  that I will show you today and homemade pasta (hylopites) with the wonderful recipe of Xanthi. If you exclude fatigue (the truth is that it was very tiring …) this experience made us very happy, because all of these we were doing for the first time. Really, though tiring, these three preparations are wonderful for anyone who loves cooking and clean food. Those of us who have grown up in the city we’re not familiar with all of them, as those who have grown up in the province.

Trahanas is a Greek traditional pasta made from flour or bulgur, and milk or soured milk or yogurt. It is prepared either sweet or sour and it is dried in the sun in the summer in order to be ready for consumption in the winter. It is usually cooked as a soup.

I wanted the materials I use to be as pure as possible, so I asked friends and acquaintances, and after I made the round of Attica I found what I was looking for!  😉

So I bought goat’s milk from Anavissos and while I had ordered cracked wheat in Palaia Fokaia, I came looking for it in Kalyvia. So we were ready for our first project since the necessary sieve for trahana had come from Lianokladi!! Following the invaluable advice of friends and Xanthi, the bulgur trahana was prepared.

After that, it was time for the lenten tricolored trahana with vegetables. For this I found all the information I wanted on the internet, but the post that impressed me most is the one on the gastrin, a blog that focuses on Mediterranean diet and natural ingredients. I loved the process the girls described and I decided to follow the same, adding some other ingredients I had in mind. You guessed it?  Mostly spices and mushrooms. At first I did not aim to prepare a post, but the recipe is so good (I followed the procedure exactly) and enjoyed it so much, I really wanted to share it with you!

This vegetable trahanas is very nutritious, fasting and suitable for vegetarians and vegans. It can be cooked with olive oil or just water. The process is a bit time consuming, but you should not be intimidated! You only make it once a year!!

In essence you make three different doughs: one red, one orange and one green. Follow the same procedure for all three doughs and then rub trahana with the sieve, mix it and you have a tricolor trahana.

I propose to start the process in the afternoon to leave the dough to stand overnight, and in the morning spread out in the sun.

Preparation time:    1 hour for the three doughs; drying the trahana depends on weather conditions

Yields:   approx. 8-9 lbs

Ingredients:

for the red dough:

• 6 lb. tomatoes, peeled and seeded
• 1 lb. sweet red peppers, seeded and cut into medium-sized pieces
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon sweet paprika
• 5 oz. bulgur
• 1 lb. fine semolina
• yellow bread flour

 

for the green dough:

• 5 oz. zucchini, peeled and cut into thin slices
• 3 oz. peas
• 500 g. spinach
• ½ bunch parsley
• 3 sprigs celery
• 1 teaspoon dry oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 5 oz. bulgur
• 1 lb. fine semolina
• yellow bread flour

 

for the yellow dough:

• 9 lb. carrots, peeled and cut into thin slices
• 5 oz. zucchini, peeled and cut into thin slices
• 5 oz. onions or leeks, chopped (I put both)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons mushroom powder (dried mushrooms ground in a food processor to a powder)
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 5 oz. bulgur
• 1 lb. fine semolina
• yellow bread flour

Instructions:

1. Divide the vegetables for each dough into three pots and add enough water to cover them. Boil over medium-low heat with the lid closed.
2. Once the vegetables are tender, add salt, pepper and other spices. Allow to boil for 2-3 minutes and add the bulgur. Turn off the heat and stir.
3. Let the mixture cool for about 10 minutes and mash the vegetables in a blender, one color at a time.
4. Pour the purée back into the pot, open the fire and when it boils pour the semolina, stirring at the same time. Once the mixture thickens remove from heat.
5. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, add flour and knead well until you have firm dough.
6. Leave the three doughs to their basins covered with a towel overnight.
7. In the morning cut small pieces, like bites, then spread them on a cotton tablecloth or sheet, and leave in the sun to dry. Cover with tulle or gauze and catch all sides with pegs so that no passage left for insects. Try to position the tulle so that it does not touch upon the dough pieces, so even if some insects walk on it the dough won’t be soiled. Be sure to turn the pieces every 2-3 hours. They should not dry out. They will dry from the outside but inside they should have moisture. Try to rub the pieces with the sieve and if they do then you will know they are ready. If not let them the sun a little longer.
8. After the rub, leave trahana again in the sun to dry completely. In the evening gather it inside. The time it takes depends on the weather conditions. I rubbed him late in the first day and it took 2 days to dry completely.

In the original recipe it is mentioned that the drying process can be completed in the oven. In my case I did not do that, but if the weather conditions are not favorable, it is a good solution.