I am sure that there is not a single person in this earth, who hasn’t lied more than once in his/her life. I cannot even remember how many lies big ones or small ones I have said in my 43 years of living. What about you?

When I was 5 years old, I didn’t like my name. Katerina is a quite common name in Greece. It is the equivalent of Catherine in English. So, one summer when we were on vacations, I met another girl of my age and I told her that my name was Therese. Don’t ask me why I picked that name, I have no idea. I guess back then it sounded exotic and unusual to my 5 year old ears.

And then one day that girl saw my mom at the beach and asked her were Therese was. Of course my mom told her that she knew no Therese, but the girl insisted that she was talking about her daughter Therese. My mom, of course, explained to her that she indeed had a daughter, but her name was Katerina and not Therese. And at that specific point the fable I created around me collapsed instantly. Afterwards, I got the usual preaching of why we should not tell lies to other people and all the consequences of such an act.

Well, to be honest with you I haven’t lied about my name since then, but there were occasions in my life in which I had to lie for some reason. From the time I grew up and left teenage years behind me, I tried and still try to minimize this as much as possible, striving to be as honest as I can get. Most of the times I succeed, but there are these very few moments that a lie seems better than the truth. Sometimes truth is really very hard to endure and thus a lie helps you or other people to accept the truth slowly, slowly.

This is why I picked this recipe today. This is a reminder of all the lies I said in my life and all the ones I am trying not to say.

Now, there are two kinds of Pseftiés (Lies), the sweet Pseftiés that are made in Cephalonia a beautiful Greek island surrounded by the Ionian Sea and the savory Pseftiés that come from another beautiful island Cyprus. In this post I will present the savory lies from Cyprus. Cyprus is a beautiful country/island in the southern part of Mediterranean Sea with very tasty and unique kitchen. This recipe comes from here. So, hang in there, there are many lies to eat in this and in the coming posts lol.

 

Pseftiés (Lies, The Savory Version)

Ingredients

1 kilo/2 lb. potatoes

300 gr. /11 oz. halloumi cheese, grated

2 tsp dried mint

1 onion, chopped

Salt and pepper

 

3 cups of olive oil for frying

 

Flour for the Pseftiés

 

Instructions

Peel the potatoes.

Boil them until they become soft.

Mash them finely as if you were making mashed potatoes.

Add the grated halloumi.

Add the onion, the mint, salt and pepper and knead everything together.

Make small balls.

Put them in the fridge and let them stay there for an hour.

Take them out of the fridge and flour them. You can flour them before refrigerating them, as I did.

In a pot pour the 3 cups of olive oil in high heat.

When the oil is ready fry them.

Please pay attention here. Do not put many balls in the pot, as it will be difficult for you to turn them.

Since they are quite fragile, I put only four per batch, so as to have plenty of space to maneuver. Also, for the first batch the heat must be high, but for the following batches you have to decrease the fire by one point, because the oil is getting too hot and they will be burnt.

I accompanied them with honey-mustard sauce I had in fridge, but you can eat them with tzatziki or any other sauce you like!