Region
16 Greek Recipes from Rhodes and the Dodecanese
The Dodecanese sit close enough to Asia Minor to have absorbed its spicing, and produce chickpea dishes, stuffed pastas and island cheeses found nowhere else.
The Dodecanese sit close enough to Asia Minor to have taken on its spicing, and each island keeps dishes found nowhere else. Some of them are almost unknown beyond the islands.
Rhodes has chickpea and tomato fritters, rice rolled in lettuce leaves, sesame ring cookies, and the sesame and honey sweet given to wedding guests. Karpathos rolls a thick pasta by hand and serves it with slowly caramelised onion and hard cheese. Kalymnos bakes lamb with potatoes, makes a courgette and herb frittata eaten hot or cold, and soaks cheese pancakes in honey.
Symi fries its shrimp whole. Astypalaia stuffs a lamb for Easter. The small pasta of the islands simmers in tomato until it is close to a risotto.
Every recipe on Kalliopi's Kitchen carries the dish's Greek name and a pronunciation, its region where that is meaningful, ingredient quantities in both metric and imperial, and an honest note on what commonly goes wrong. Nutrition figures are calculated estimates and are labelled as such.
1. Rhodes Chickpea and Tomato Fritters
Pitaroudia · Πιταρούδια · pee-tah-ROO-thee-ah
A Rhodes fritter that hardly leaves Rhodes. Ask for one on the mainland and expect a blank look. The chickpeas are crushed, not pureed, so the texture is coarse and nutty where falafel is smooth, with grated tomato, onion and plenty of mint. Cumin goes in too, because the Anatolian coast is close.
Yiayia’s tip: Never use tinned chickpeas. They are already cooked and far too wet. The dish depends on raw soaked chickpeas cooking through during the fry.
Make Rhodes Chickpea and Tomato Fritters2. Rhodes Sesame and Honey Wedding Sweet
Melekouni · Μελεκούνι · meh-leh-KOO-nee
The wedding sweet of Rhodes, given to the guests and sometimes stamped with a pattern. It is close to pasteli, sesame bound in honey, but warmer and more aromatic because cinnamon and orange zest run through it, and it is cut into diamonds, not bars. Cut it while still slightly warm, or it cracks.
Yiayia’s tip: Remove the cinnamon and zest before adding sesame. You want their flavour infused into the honey, not large pieces left in the finished sweet.
Make Rhodes Sesame and Honey Wedding Sweet3. Dodecanese Orzo-Style Pasta with Tomato
Sitaraki · Σιταράκι · see-tah-RAH-kee
A small pasta of the Dodecanese, the size and shape of orzo, named from sitari, wheat. It cooks in the tomato and onion sauce itself, not in separate water, and its starch thickens everything into a one-pot meal in half an hour. Orzo or kritharaki behave almost identically if sitaraki cannot be found.
Yiayia’s tip: Cook the onions properly first. A genuine ten to twelve minutes over low heat builds real sweetness that carries the whole dish alongside the tomato.
Make Dodecanese Orzo-Style Pasta with Tomato4. Makarounes Karpathou
Μακαρούνες Καρπάθου · mah-kah-ROO-nes kar-PAH-thoo
Karpathos makes its pasta by hand: flour and water, rolled into short, thick pieces. Three things go on the plate: the pasta, onion cooked down dark and sweet, and a heavy grating of hard cheese. The cheese is the third essential part of the dish, not a garnish. Humble food, and filling.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not rush the onion. A genuine thirty to forty minutes over low heat is what gives it the deep, sweet, jammy quality the dish depends on. Higher heat browns it unevenly and bitterly instead.
Make Makarounes Karpathou5. Kalymnos Courgette and Herb Frittata
Sfougato Kalymnou · Σφουγγάτο Καλύμνου · sfoo-GAH-toh kah-LEEM-noo
Part omelette, part savoury cake. Grated courgette and potato are bound with plenty of egg and baked or pan-fried. The Kalymnos version leans hard on fresh dill and mint, which are its character and not a garnish. It is eaten hot, and just as often cold the next day, cut into wedges.
Yiayia’s tip: Drain the vegetables properly. Both courgette and potato hold real water content. Skipping this step leaves a mixture that will not set properly.
Make Kalymnos Courgette and Herb Frittata6. Pickled Rock Samphire Salad
Kritamo · Κρίταμο · KREE-tah-moh
Rock samphire grows straight out of cracks in sea cliffs, and tavernas across the Dodecanese and the Cyclades keep a jar of it. It crunches like a young bean and bites like celery and fennel. Like capers, it gets a brief blanch, a day in vinegar and salt, then months under olive oil.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not add salt when you serve it. Kritamo has been salted twice and grows in sea spray to begin with. Taste before seasoning anything you put it in, including the salad it goes on top of.
Make Pickled Rock Samphire Salad7. Rhodes Lettuce-Wrapped Rice Rolls
Dolmades me marouli · Ντολμάδες με μαρούλι · dohl-MAH-thes meh mah-ROO-lee
Rhodes and the wider Dodecanese roll their dolmades in blanched lettuce, not vine leaves. The parcel comes out softer and sweeter, without the tannic bite of the vine leaf, around the usual filling of rice, onion and herbs. Lettuce tears easily. Blanch it for twenty to thirty seconds only, and use a little less filling.
Yiayia’s tip: Use cos or romaine, not a soft lettuce. Sturdier leaves hold up far better to blanching and rolling than a delicate butterhead variety, which tends to fall apart.
Make Rhodes Lettuce-Wrapped Rice Rolls8. Kalymnos Honey-Soaked Cheese Pancakes
Katimeria Kalymnou · Κατιμέρια Καλύμνου · kah-tee-MEH-ryah kah-LEEM-noo
Salty cheese inside, honey syrup outside. Greek baking normally keeps savoury and sweet pastries apart, and this Kalymnos pastry puts them in one bite: thin dough folded over soft cheese, fried crisp, then soaked in syrup while everything is still hot. On the island it belongs to weddings and name days.
Yiayia’s tip: Seal the edges firmly. A poorly sealed pastry leaks its cheese filling into the hot oil. Press and check each one before frying.
Make Kalymnos Honey-Soaked Cheese Pancakes9. Kalymnos Baked Lamb and Potatoes
Fournisto Kalymnou · Φουρνιστό Καλύμνου · foor-nee-STOH kah-LEEM-noo
This was not always baked at home. Kalymnos households carried the tray to the bakery oven the village shared and left it for hours, because not every house had one big or hot enough. Lamb or goat, potatoes, lemon, garlic and oregano: a plain dish. It is still the island's Easter centrepiece.
Yiayia’s tip: Marinate the potatoes along with the meat. This means they carry real flavour of their own, rather than depending only on the meat's juices during the long bake.
Make Kalymnos Baked Lamb and Potatoes10. Rhodes Sesame Ring Cookies
Koulourakia Rodou · Κουλουράκια Ρόδου · koo-loo-RAH-kyah ROH-thoo
Mainland koulourakia get an egg wash and nothing more. On Rhodes the orange-scented rings are covered all over in sesame seed before baking, which makes them nuttier and crunchier. They turn up at Easter and on name days. Shaping is the slow part, and goes better with company.
Yiayia’s tip: Brush the egg wash generously before coating. This is what makes the sesame seeds stick properly to the whole cookie, not just the top.
Make Rhodes Sesame Ring Cookies11. Karpathos Hand Pies
Pougia Karpathou · Πουγιά Καρπάθου · poo-YAH kar-PAH-thoo
Small cheese pies from Karpathos, cousins of the mainland tiropitakia. The filling is a soft, mild local cheese with a great deal of fresh mint, where the mainland uses dill or parsley, and the dough is gathered into a pouch, not folded into a triangle. Make a large batch: raw ones freeze well.
Yiayia’s tip: Seal the pouch firmly. A loose seal lets the filling escape during frying or baking. Pinch the gathered edges together properly.
Make Karpathos Hand Pies12. Pitaridia Kalymnou
Πιταρίδια Καλύμνου · pee-tah-REE-thee-ah kah-LEEM-noo
Handmade pasta from Kalymnos, from before dried pasta was in every Greek kitchen. The dough is flour, water and salt, cut by hand into flat ribbons like a rustic tagliatelle. Karpathos has makarounes, which are short, thick and closer to dumplings. These cook in the tomato sauce itself, as orzo does in giouvetsi.
Yiayia’s tip: Roll the dough genuinely thin. This is what most affects the finished texture. A thick-rolled pitaridia takes considerably longer to cook through and loses the delicate bite that defines the dish.
Make Pitaridia Kalymnou13. Kalymnos Barley Rusk Salad
Mermizeli · Μερμιζέλι · mer-mee-ZEH-lee
Every taverna on Kalymnos serves this and no two make it alike. The fixed parts are broken barley rusk, ripe tomato, onion, capers, olives, a soft cheese such as kopanisti on top and olive oil in quantity. The rusk sits underneath and softens into the salad, which is what separates it from Cretan dakos.
Yiayia’s tip: Use every drop of tomato juice. Chop the tomatoes on a board with a lip, or straight into the bowl, and tip the juice in with them. That juice is the main liquid the rusk has to work with.
Make Kalymnos Barley Rusk Salad14. Symi Shrimp Fried Whole
Garides Symis · Γαρίδες Σύμης · gha-REE-thes SEE-mees
Caught in deep, cold water that separates Symi from the Turkish coast, and small enough that thirty fill a hand. They go whole into very hot oil for a count of sixty: no flour, no batter. Nothing is peeled or removed. The shell fries crisp, and most of the flavour is in the head.
Yiayia’s tip: Dry them properly. Wet shrimp make hot oil spit violently and drop its temperature. Five minutes on a tea towel is the difference between crisp shells and a soggy plate.
Make Symi Shrimp Fried Whole15. Astypalaia Easter Stuffed Lamb
Lambriano · Λαμπριανό · lam-bree-ah-NOH
On Easter Sunday the mainland turns a lamb on the spit. Astypalaia and the Dodecanese stuff it and bake it slowly, traditionally overnight. What matters is the stuffing: rice, chopped liver and heart, onion, tomato, parsley and dill. Cooked inside the joint, it soaks up the juices and tastes more of lamb than the meat.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not overfill the pocket. The rice swells as it finishes cooking. Pack the stuffing loosely and leave room, or it will burst the seam and empty into the tin.
Make Astypalaia Easter Stuffed Lamb16. Grilled Octopus
Htapodi sta karvouna · Χταπόδι στα κάρβουνα · htah-POH-thee stah KAR-voo-nah
Octopus on a line outside a taverna is the picture everyone knows, and the drying does help. What makes it tender is a long, gentle simmer in the liquid the octopus gives up, with no water added. The grill only finishes it, in about four minutes. Raw on the fire, it turns to rubber.
Yiayia’s tip: Frozen is better than fresh here. One of the few cases where this is true. Freezing does the tenderising work that would otherwise take beating or luck.
Make Grilled Octopus
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