Fakes Recipe (Greek Lentil Soup with Vinegar)

Fakes and fasolada are the two soups that fed Greece, and between them they cover most of the fasting calendar. Fakes is the quicker of the two, because lentils need no soaking and are done inside an hour.

It is austere on paper: lentils, onion, garlic, bay, a little tomato, and a great deal of olive oil. What lifts it is the vinegar, which goes into the bowl rather than the pot, so everyone adds their own and the sharpness stays bright rather than cooking away.

Greeks eat it with olives, bread, and often a piece of salt fish or feta on the side. It is the definition of cheap food that is genuinely good rather than merely filling.

Key preparation steps

1. Boil the lentils briefly and drain that first water away.
2. Simmer with aromatics and a lot of olive oil until soft.
3. Add tomato and salt only once the lentils are tender.
4. Finish with raw oil, and add vinegar at the table.

Which lentils?

Small brown or green lentils, which hold their shape while going creamy at the edges. Greek shops sell them simply as fakes. Puy lentils work and stay firmer.

Red or split lentils do not work here. They collapse completely into a puree, which is a different and perfectly nice soup but not fakes.

No soaking required. A rinse and a check for stones is all they need.

Why drain the first water?

Bring the lentils to the boil in plain water, boil for five minutes, then drain and start again with fresh water. It is a traditional step and worth keeping.

It removes some of the compounds that cause digestive discomfort and gives a cleaner-tasting, less muddy soup. It also lets you skim off anything that floats.

Do not salt either water. Salt early toughens lentil skins and slows the cooking considerably.

How much olive oil, and when

At least 100 ml for six servings, split between the pot and the finish. Fakes is a ladera dish and the oil is the body of the soup.

Half goes in with the vegetables at the start and cooks down into the base. The other half goes in raw at the end, off the heat, which keeps the fresh peppery character that cooking drives off.

A soup made with a tablespoon of oil will be thin and taste of boiled lentils. This is the single most common way people are disappointed by it.

Why the vinegar goes in the bowl

Vinegar boiled in a pot for half an hour loses its edge and turns flat and slightly sour. Added to the bowl at the table it stays sharp and lifts everything.

Put a small jug of red wine vinegar on the table and let people add their own, which is how it is done in Greece. A teaspoon per bowl is a normal starting point.

Some households cook a splash into the pot as well, at the very end. That is fine, but the bowl is where the important addition happens.

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