Effortless Trahana Soup with Tomato and Fresh Goat Cheese

By Vassilis and Anastasia of Cookouvagia.com 

 

Trahana belongs to the big family of pasta. Trahana soup can sooth your soul in the cold… 

There are a lot of variations: Trahana can be sweet or sour, fine or chunky, vegan or not. The basic ingredients of the dough from which trahana is made is flour and milk.   

The dough is then cut in small pieces of same thickness and spread out on a white sheet in order to dry. This procedure is best done in a well-ventilated room and ideally during the warmest months of the year, in order to decrease the time of dehydration. 

If possible, fans should be used to speed things up. The dehydration phase is crucial so the trahana won’t rot when stored. 

Next step is to take the dry pieces of dough and grate them by passing them through a sieve with large holes, so as to get the traditional shape of trahana. 

We then store it in a fabric bag, in a dry and cool cupboard. 

In our recipe, the trahana dough used consists of flour, semolina and yogurt, to which we will add boiled onions and fresh tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and spicy hot peppers. 

The most interesting part of this dough is the use of “trahanohortaro”, an aromatic herb that grows exclusively in Chios island and the shores of Asia Minor. Trahanohortaro gives spectacular taste and flavor to trahana soup when cooked. 

Trahana has raised a lot of generations, but in the last two decades, it became less popular, due to the fact that Greeks turned to modern and more “stylish” gastronomic choices.  But in these last few years, due to the economic crisis, trahana has once again appeared in our daily Greek diet.

 

Effortless Trahana Soup with Tomato and Fresh Goat Cheese 

Total Time: 30 minutes 

Yield: 4 servings 

 

Ingredients: 

6 ½ cups water 

2 cubes of bio beef or vegetable stock (optional) 

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 

1 pound fresh ripe tomatoes, crushed 

3 ½ ounces trahana 

1 tbsp tomato paste 

2 pinches sugar 

Salt and Pepper, to taste 

5 ounces fresh goat cheese in small pieces (optional) 

4 thick slices of whole-wheat bread, toasted 

 

Instructions: 

Bring water to the boil in a big casserole. 

Add cubes of beef or vegetable stock, a pinch of salt, olive oil, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste and sugar. 

Add trahana and stir. 

Boil without lid, stirring occasionally, over medium heat, for about 25 minutes or until soup has thickened a little and trahana is soft. 

Taste and season according to your liking. 

Optionally, serve hot in a deep bowl with a toasted slice of bread. 

Sprinkle with goat cheese and enjoy!