Ingredient
18 Greek Recipes with Chickpeas, Beans and Lentils
Revithia, fasolia, fakes and fava. Pulses carried Greek households through every fasting period and every lean year, and the cooking shows it.
Revithia, fasolia, fakes and fava: chickpeas, beans, lentils and split peas. Pulses carried Greek households through every fasting period and every lean year, and the cooking shows it.
Each has its dish. White beans make fasolada, the soup that counts as the national dish. Giant beans are baked in tomato. Lentils become a soup finished with vinegar. Yellow split peas are simmered to a puree and dressed with raw onion, capers and oil.
Chickpeas go furthest: fritters, a salad, a plain soup, with spinach, and on Sifnos a bake and a pie. This is cheap food, and the bean dishes are better the next day.
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. Baked Giant Beans in Tomato
Gigantes plaki · Γίγαντες πλακί · YEE-ghan-des plah-KEE
The beans come mainly from Kastoria and Prespes in northern Greece. They are larger and creamier than a butter bean and drink up sauce without collapsing. This is a ladera dish: the olive oil is the sauce, not a mistake in the recipe. It is vegan as it stands, and on every Greek fasting table.
Yiayia’s tip: Old beans never soften. Dried beans more than a year or so old can refuse to cook properly no matter what you do. If a batch is still hard after an hour of simmering, the beans are the problem, not your method.
Make Baked Giant Beans in Tomato2. Fasolada
Φασολάδα · fah-so-LAH-thah
Routinely called the national dish, and the claim holds up: for centuries, all over the country, this was what people ate several times a week. It is filling, costs little and is allowed in every fast. No stock goes in, only water. Too little olive oil or too little time, and it stays bean water.
Yiayia’s tip: Boil hard for five minutes first. The initial hard boil and change of water removes compounds that cause digestive discomfort and gives a cleaner-tasting soup.
Make Fasolada3. Yellow Split Pea Puree
Fava Santorinis · Φάβα Σαντορίνης · FAH-vah san-to-REE-nees
There are no fava beans in it. Greek fava is yellow split peas, and Santorini has its own protected variety, grown there for thousands of years. The peas collapse by themselves, and a wooden spoon gives a silkier puree than a machine. It comes warm, under raw onion, capers and a pool of oil.
Yiayia’s tip: Skim relentlessly. The foam in the first ten minutes is where the muddy taste lives. Take it all off and the finished puree is noticeably sweeter and cleaner.
Make Yellow Split Pea Puree4. Lentil Soup with Vinegar
Fakes · Φακές · fah-KES
Two soups fed Greece. Fasolada is one and this is the other, the quicker of them, since lentils go in unsoaked and are soft within the hour. There is little else: onion, garlic, bay, some tomato and a lot of olive oil. The vinegar goes into each bowl at the table, never the pot.
Yiayia’s tip: Salt only when tender. Salt added early toughens lentil skins and can add twenty minutes to the cooking time for no benefit.
Make Lentil Soup with Vinegar5. 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 Fritters6. Cypriot Black-Eyed Bean Salad with Chard
Louvi · Λούβι · LOO-vee
Fasting-day food in Cyprus, and nobody at the table feels deprived. Black-eyed beans are simmered with chard or spinach, given olive oil and lemon while still warm, then left to cool. It is a Lenten staple, vegan as it stands. Serve it as a full plate with bread and olives, not as a side.
Yiayia’s tip: No soaking needed. Black-eyed beans are thin-skinned enough to cook from fully dry in under an hour, unlike most other dried pulses.
Make Cypriot Black-Eyed Bean Salad with Chard7. Chickpea Fritters
Revithokeftedes · Ρεβιθοκεφτέδες · reh-vee-thoh-kef-TEH-thes
A keftes rebuilt around chickpeas, with onion, herbs and cumin, and no mere stand-in for the meat one. They belong most to the Cyclades, where chickpeas are an old staple crop, and to Lent on the mainland. Chickpeas hold more water than people expect, so the mixture must be dry. Chill the patties before frying.
Yiayia’s tip: Cook dried chickpeas until very soft. Well beyond salad tenderness. A proper long simmer softens them enough to mash easily without extra binders.
Make Chickpea Fritters8. Lentils and Rice
Fakorizo · Φακόρυζο · fah-KOH-ree-zoh
Lentil soup with rice cooked into the same pot, which makes it thick enough to eat like a pilaf. It is cheap store-cupboard food that saw Greek families through the fasts and the lean years. The step people skip is the last one: vinegar and olive oil, heated and poured over just before serving.
Yiayia’s tip: Add the lentils first, then the rice. Lentils need considerably longer to cook. Staggering the two lets them finish tender together.
Make Lentils and Rice9. White Bean Salad
Fasolia salata · Φασόλια σαλάτα · fah-SOH-lyah sah-LAH-tah
A relative of fasolada, the bean soup: white beans cooked tender, dressed warm with vinegar, olive oil, parsley and plenty of red onion, and eaten warm or at room temperature. During Lent it is a main course, not a side. It sits for hours without harm, having no dairy or mayonnaise.
Yiayia’s tip: Salt only once the beans are tender. Salting the cooking water early toughens the skins of any dried pulse.
Make White Bean Salad10. Lentil Salad
Fakes salata · Φακές σαλάτα · fah-KES sah-LAH-tah
The lentils of fakes soup, taken the other way: served cold with olive oil, red wine vinegar, parsley and plenty of red onion. Dress them while still warm, because warm lentils take the dressing in and cold ones leave it on top. It lasts for hours at room temperature, which makes it picnic food.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not overcook the lentils. A salad wants distinct lentils that hold their shape, not a mushy puree. Check from 25 minutes onwards.
Make Lentil Salad11. Chickpea Salad
Revithosalata · Ρεβιθοσαλάτα · reh-vee-thoh-sah-LAH-tah
Chickpeas taste of very little on their own, so this cold salad lives on its dressing: olive oil, lemon, parsley and red onion, and plenty of salt and pepper. It needs no oven, unlike the slow-baked revithada. It keeps and travels well, and with good bread it makes a light main course.
Yiayia’s tip: Good tinned chickpeas are a genuine shortcut. Well rinsed and drained, they turn this into a very fast dish without much loss of quality.
Make Chickpea Salad12. Red Lentil Soup
Soupa fakes kokkines · Σούπα φακές κόκκινες · SOO-pah fah-KES koh-KEE-nes
Red lentils behave nothing like the brown ones in classic fakes. They fall apart as they cook and thicken the pot on their own, with no blender, in half the time. The spice is cumin, where the classic leans on bay leaf and tomato. Without lemon at the end it is heavy and earthy.
Yiayia’s tip: Stir more often as it thickens. Once the lentils break down, the soup can catch on the base of the pot. Stir more frequently towards the end.
Make Red Lentil Soup13. Cypriot Lentils and Rice with Onions
Moutzentra · Μουτζέντρα · moo-TZEN-drah
Lentils and rice in one pot, which every Cypriot household makes without a recipe, most often in Lent. The onions carry it: close to half a kilo, fried slowly until dark, sweet and jammy, half stirred in and half left on top. It is kin to Lebanese mujaddara, with brown lentils and more lemon.
Yiayia’s tip: Cook the lentils separately first. Lentils and rice need very different times. Getting the lentils almost tender before the rice joins them is the only reliable way to have both right at the same moment.
Make Cypriot Lentils and Rice with Onions14. Sifnos Sunday Chickpea Bake
Revithada · Ρεβιθάδα · reh-vee-THAH-thah
On Sifnos this is Sunday food: the pot is filled on Saturday night and goes into the village's wood-fired oven until after church, twelve hours or more. Chickpeas, one onion, bay leaves, olive oil and water are all that go in. A home oven set very low does the job. Salt only at the end.
Yiayia’s tip: Only dried chickpeas will work. Tinned ones are already cooked and will simply fall apart over this length of bake. Soaking dried chickpeas overnight is not a shortcut you can skip.
Make Sifnos Sunday Chickpea Bake15. Sifnos Baked Chickpea Pie
Revithopita Sifnou · Ρεβιθόπιτα Σίφνου · reh-vee-THOH-pee-tah SEEF-noo
The word pita promises phyllo, and there is none. On Sifnos this is cooked chickpeas mashed with onion, lemon and olive oil, plus a little flour, then baked slowly into a dense golden slab. It grew out of the same chickpea habit as the island's revithada. Vegan, filling, and arguably better after a day's rest.
Yiayia’s tip: Cook the chickpeas until genuinely very tender. They need to blend or mash down smoothly, well past the firmness you would want for a salad.
Make Sifnos Baked Chickpea Pie16. Plain Chickpea Soup
Revithosoupa · Ρεβιθόσουπα · reh-vee-THOH-soo-pah
Sifnos bakes its chickpeas for most of a day until they are almost dry. This is the quicker, wetter, everyday version: dried chickpeas simmered on the hob with bay, onion and olive oil, and left as a proper soup. Lemon and good oil go on at the table, so they stay bright.
Yiayia’s tip: Salt only once the chickpeas are tender. Salting the water too early toughens the skins of any dried pulse and can stop them softening properly.
Make Plain Chickpea Soup17. Cypriot Dried Pea Soup
Louvana · Λουβάνα · loo-VAH-nah
A Lenten soup from Cyprus: dried yellow split peas, onion and olive oil, no meat, no dairy, and filling all the same. It starts from the same pea as Santorini's fava and ends elsewhere. Fava is a smooth puree under capers and raw onion. This stays loose and soupy, mashed only lightly.
Yiayia’s tip: Give the peas the full cooking time. They need to break down properly to thicken the soup naturally. Undercooked peas leave a thin, watery soup rather than a properly hearty one.
Make Cypriot Dried Pea Soup18. Chickpeas with Spinach
Revithia me spanaki · Ρεβίθια με σπανάκι · reh-VEE-thya meh spah-NAH-kee
Chickpeas and greens are one of the oldest pairings in Greek cooking. This fasting dish is filling and cheap, and nobody treats it as penance. The work is all in the chickpeas: soaked overnight, then cooked for over an hour until creamy right through. The spinach, dill and lemon come in the last ten minutes.
Yiayia’s tip: Salt only once the chickpeas are soft. Salt added at the start slows the softening and can leave the skins tough. Season in the last twenty minutes, once they are already creamy.
Make Chickpeas with Spinach
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