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24.06.2014

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Giaourtlou is a Turkish/Greek dish that comprises of pitta bread topped with a couple of kebabs, some tomato sauce and yogurt on top. It’s gorgeous. This is a different version, without kebabs but with a sausage and red pepper tomato sauce.

We came up with this dish when we were planning the menu for the Ef Zin (Wellbeing) Festival that took place a few weeks ago. Our Food4Good group was responsible for, well, the food! It was our biggest challenge yet, one we rose to with great success I must add. We got a whole bunch of fellow food bloggers and foodies together (over 40 of us in total) and cooked about 10,000 portions. No, that’s not a typo. It was crazy. During the first planning meeting, when we started jotting down the amounts of ingredients we would need, that’s when it really hit us; were we really going to pull this off? After a few minutes of nervous giggling we got stuck into organising everything. And the result was the most amazing buffet, with lots of tasty food, and some very happy tummies that got to enjoy a great lunch. It was also really good fun! And the Festival itself managed to make over 10,000 euro for the two charities it was supporting. That’s a result with a capital R!

My team cooked this version of giaourtlou. The sauce can also be used for pasta, just make it a little thicker if that’s your intention. Here we need it quite runny (but not watery) so that the juice is soaked up by the pitta bread. The yogurt on top is not optional, it is a vital part of the dish, so don’t skip it. But why would anyone skip Greek yogurt anyway?

Ingredients

1 Tbs olive oil

1/2 medium onion, diced

1 large country style pork sausage (200gr), sliced

2 red bell peppers, cut into strips

1 medium ripe tomato, chopped in a food processor (about 2/3 cup)

1 Tbs tomato paste, diluted in one cup of boiling water

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp oregano, dried

1/4 tsp black pepper

Greek pitta bread to serve, quartered

Greek yogurt to serve

Step 1

Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the onion and give it a stir so it’s all coated. After about 30 seconds add the sausages and stir. Let them brown on all sides for about 5 minutes before adding the peppers as well. Stir often now, so nothing catches. Leave for another 5 minutes.

Step 2

After 10 minutes in total, add the chopped tomatoes and the water with the paste. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. When it bubbles lower the heat again and add the sugar, salt, oregano and pepper. Stir and let simmer for 40 minutes till it’s thickened a little. It shouldn’t be watery but it shouldn’t be very thick either.

Step 3

Spread the pitta pieces on a platter and cover with the sauce. Add dollops of yogurt on top without being stingy. If you want, you can do a sort of lasagna style dish with layers of pitta bread and sauce, and then top it all with a thick layer of yogurt on top. This is how we served it at the buffet and it was a bit hit. The pitta should soak up the juices in order to soften and be easier to cut into.

For pictures of the fun and games (and food) you can visit our facebook page. It’s in Greek but follow this link to get to the right post. Oh and... “like” the page while you’re there! It’s for a good cause.

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