These 10 recipes are for vegetarian dishes that are part of the simple, everyday diet in Greece. They are all healthy and nutritious, as well as being delicious and easy to prepare - it really is "home-made" food.

I found it hard to choose only 10, but have listed some side dishes & dips, pies and main dishes. Do try them - I'm sure you'll enjoy them all as much as I do!

I'm starting with one of my favourites! Smooth and tangy! This is traditionally made with Greek strained yoghurt but can also be made with mayonnaise instead. Try both ways and see which you prefer - with mayonnaise it has a slightly thicker, richer taste. This is a side dish which can be served with any meat, fish or vegetable dish.

Ingredients

3 large eggplants

300g strained Greek yoghurt or mayonnaise

3 medium-sized cloves of garlic

2 tablespoonfuls extra virgin olive oil

1 lemon

Salt

Preparation

Wash the eggplants and make a few deep cuts in their skin with a sharp knife.

Bake them whole in a very hot oven for approximately 1 hour until the skin is burned and cracks if you tap it with your fingers. It is important to be burned because that gives a special smoky taste to the dip.

Allow them to cool and cut them in two lengthwise.

Scoop out the white flesh and try to remove the dark seeds.

Put the flesh in a colander, add salt which will remove the bitterness from the eggplants and lemon juice which will help them to remain white.

Allow them to stand and drain for an hour.

Mash them as much as you can with the help of a fork, do not use a blender.

Add the yoghurt (or mayonnaise), the crushed garlic and the olive oil and stir them well.

Place them in a shallow bowl and decorate them with parsley leaves and a few drops of olive oil.

This is a classic Greek side dish, which can be served with vegetable dishes, as well as accompanying souvlaki or gyros for meat-eaters.

Ingredients

1 cucumber

2-3 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon medium wine vinegar

300g full-fat strained Greek yoghurt

100ml extra virgin olive oil

½ tablespoon finally chopped dill leaves

Preparation

Remove the skin of the cucumber and grate it. (not finely)

Finely grate the garlic.

Salt the cucumber and leave it in a colander for half-an-hour and then drain well.

Put it in a bowl with the garlic and the rest of the ingredients.

Mix them all well with the help of a fork.

Put the dip in a bowl, add salt and decorate it with few dill leaves.

Papoutsakia means "little shoes" and the name was given to this dish due to the appearance of the eggplants. Simple and quick to make - and, of course, delicious!

Ingredients

5 large round eggplants

For the Sauce

½ kg Mushrooms

2 tablespoons chopped Parsley

2 Onions finely sliced

2 crushed Garlic cloves

2 Bay leaves

1 cup Vegetable Oil

1 tin chopped Tomatoes

For the Béchamel Sauce

1 litre milk

¾ teacup flour

250g Butter

200g grated Parmesan Cheese (2/3 for the béchamel sauce and the rest to sprinkle on top of the eggplants)

Preparation of the Eggplants

Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise and leave them in salted water for 1 hour.

Remove them from the water, squeeze them and then place them upside down in an oven dish with the vegetable oil.

Bake them in a pre-heated moderate oven for ½ hour.

Remove them and place them without the oil in a clean oven dish facing upwards.

Preparation of the Sauce

Fry the sliced onions lightly in a large pan.

Add the garlic and stir for 1 minute.

Add the mushrooms and continue stirring.

Add the tomatoes and the bay leaves.

Finally, add the chopped parsley.

Keep on the heat until all the liquid has been absorbed and you have a thick sauce.

Preparation of the Béchamel Sauce

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan gently heat the butter until it melts.

Add the flour and stir constantly.

Add half of the milk and continue stirring with a whisk.

When the mixture starts to thicken, add the rest of the milk, stirring all the time.

Once it starts to thicken, lower the temperature to the minimum, add the grated cheese and turn off the heat.

Place 3 tablespoonfuls of the sauce on each of the eggplants and then add 2-3 tablespoonfuls of the béchamel sauce.

Sprinkle the eggplants with the rest of the cheese.

Bake them in a pre-heated moderate oven for ½ hour or until the béchamel has turned a golden colour.

This is a nice light and healthy meal, which is fairly quick and simple to prepare. It's called "a la Polita" as it came originally from the Greeks living in the"Poli" as they called - and still do call - Constantinoupolis.

Ingredients

6 artichokes

6 medium-sized potatoes cut into round slices

2 medium-sized carrots sliced

1 medium-sized onion

Small bunch of anise finely chopped

1 lemon

Olive oil

1 teaspoon all-purpose flour

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Discard the outer leaves of the artichokes and rub the remaining hearts with the lemon.

Leave them in a bowl of cold water along with the used lemon while you prepare the other vegetables.

Heat the oil in a shallow pan and when it is moderately hot, add the onion, the artichokes cut in half, the potatoes and carrots.

Stir them well and add just enough water to cover them, along with the anise and the seasoning.

Continue cooking until the vegetables are tender and the remaining juice is no more than a glassful.

Dilute the flour in cold water (2-3 teaspoonfuls) and add it to the vegetables.

Allow it to boil just for 2-3 seconds and then remove from the heat.

This traditional dish can be eaten at any time, but is especially associated with Clean Monday, when Lent begins before Easter. The word Gigantes means "giants" and refers to the size of the beans.

Ingredients

½ kg Butterbeans, soaked overnight

2 medium onions finely chopped

1 can tomatoes finely chopped

1 fresh red chilli pepper

½ fresh red sweet pepper finely chopped

1 cup celery leaves and stem roughly chopped

1 cup carrots in thin slices

1 cup olive oil

1 teaspoonful oregano

Salt & pepper to taste

Preparation

Boil the butterbeans in a large pan for 15 minutes, removing the foam that rises to the top of the water with a wooden spoon before the beans come to boiling point.

Transfer the beans to another large pan and add enough boiled water to cover them.

Add the finely chopped onions and cook slowly until they are soft but not over boiled.

Transfer the beans and onions to a shallow oven dish and add all the other ingredients apart from the olive oil. Add just enough of the water from the pan to cover them.

Add the olive oil and seasoning to taste.

Bake in a pre-heated moderate oven for 40 minutes or until they colour nicely and the sauce has thickened.

Serve with plain pilaf rice or as a side dish.

Spinach pie comes in many shapes and sizes. This recipe is for a "coiled" circular pie, as you can see from the photo. It also explains how to make the Filo pastry yourself, rather than buying it ready.

Ingredients

For the Filo Pastry

½ kg hard flour

150g vegetable margarine

1 teaspoon salt

For the filling

1kg fresh spinach

1 bunch spring onions

1 bunch aromatic spring herbs (in Greece, kafkalithres, paparounes, mironia etc)

1 bunch fresh anise

½ kg feta cheese

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 level teaspoon salt

Preparation of Filo pastry- 1st part

Mix the flour with the salt and enough water to make the dough pliable but not moist.

Knead the cough well and then divide it into 9 equal parts

Make a ball from each of the parts.

Leave the balls on a dish with flour for at least 1 hour, covered with cling film.

In this time, you can prepare the filling

Preparation of the Filling

Clean the spinach and discard all the hard outer parts, leaving the leaves and the soft stems.

Rinse it well under cold water.

Clean the spring onions, spring herbs and anise.

Cut them all into ½ cm pieces.

Place in a deep pan and add just 1 level teaspoon of salt.

Allow it to cook in its own juice for a few minutes - just to soften.

Drain well.

Crumble the feta cheese and add to the mixture.

Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil.

Set aside and allow to cool.

Preparation of Filo pastry - 2nd part

Flatten 3 of the balls so that they have a diameter of 20cm

Place these one on top of the other, spreading melted margarine between each of the 3 layers. When you have done this, cover it with cling film and set it aside.

Repeat this process, so that you have 3 filos with 3 layers each.

Take the first one and, with a rolling pin flatten it out so that it has 60cm diameter.

Spread butter over it.

Spread 1/3 of the filling you have prepared evenly over the surface.

Make a hole in the centre and fold the filo from the centre outwards so that you end up with a circular ‘tube' with the filling in it.

Cut this anywhere, so that you have a single long cylinder.

Cut this into 7 equal parts.

Take the parts and roll them each into coils (see photo at top).

Place them in a shallow, buttered oven dish.

Repeat the process with the other 2 filos.

Spread margarine over all of them and bake them in a preheated moderate oven for 40 minutes or until they have a golden colour.

There are a variety of cheese pies made in Greece. This is one made with Greek strained yoghurt. Please note, the yoghurt is not part of the filling, but is part of the dough itself, which gives it its own special taste. These small pies can be served as a side dish, or as a meze or in a buffet. They may be quite small, but they are actually rather filling and, of course, very tasty! They are also very easy to make.

Ingredients

½ kg all-purpose flour

100g Greek strained yoghurt

150g Feta cheese crumbled

3 eggs

200g butter

2 level teaspoons salt

Preparation

Mix the flour with the salt and rub in the butter.

Beat 2 of the eggs with the yoghurt and add to the flour mixture.

Mix all the ingredients but don't knead the dough a lot.

Make the dough into a ball, cover with cling film and put it in the fridge.

Let the dough rest in the fridge for 1 hour.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of about ½ cm.

Cut the dough into circles of about 7 ½ cm diameter with the help of a cup or a circular cutter.

Remove the uncut dough, roll it into a ball and put back in the fridge.

Brush the circles with water and add 1 teaspoon of the crumbled Feta along the central diameter of each.

Fold the circles into semi-circles with the cheese inside and press the joined edge with a fork.

Beat the remaining egg and brush the cheese pies with it.

Place the pies in a large, shallow, buttered oven dish.

Bake them in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes or until they have turned golden brown.

Normally I'm not too fond of the sharp taste of leeks, but in this recipe there is none of that sharpness and what you get is a juicy and delicious pie that you can have by itself with salad, or as part of a buffet meal - or even as just a quick snack.

Ingredients

For the dough

200g hard flour

30g butter

½ teaspoon salt

Water

For the filling

1kg leeks with most of the leaves chopped off so that all of the white part and just a little of the green remains

200g regatto cheese thickly grated

100g ricotta cheese

50g full-fat fresh cream

30g butter

Preparation

Dough

Use the flour, salt and enough water to make pliable dough.

Roll it out to a diameter of 30cm

Melt the butter and spread it over the dough.

Fold the dough in half and butter it once again.

Fold it yet again and re-butter.

Fold it one last time and butter again.

Take the ball of dough that you now have, cover it in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 1 hour.

Filling

Rinse the leeks well and chop them into approx. 1-2cm slices.

Boil them in salty water for 10 minutes.

Drain them well.

In a bowl, add the cheeses and butter to the leeks and mix well.

Set the mixture aside.

Remove the dough from the fridge and spread it evenly in a buttered oven pie dish 30cm in diameter.

Spread the filling evenly over the dough.

Pour the fresh cream over the top of the filling.

Bake in a pre-heated moderate oven for 40 minutes, placing it in the lowest part of the oven so that the dough underneath will be well baked.

Most people probably know of Moussaka as a "classic" Greek dish, but Vegetarian Moussaka is not quite as well-known. We find it really delicious and many people who are not vegetarian have said that they actually prefer it to the "normal" moussaka, which is made with meat and not mushrooms.

Try it and I'm sure you'll like it!

Ingredients

1 kg potatoes suitable for frying

4 large courgettes

8 medium eggplants

½ litre frying oil

For the Sauce

1kg button mushrooms

2 crushed garlic cloves

1 tin chopped tomatoes

2 onions finely sliced

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 bay leaves

½ cup olive oil

For the Béchamel

1 litre fresh milk

250g butter

1 cup all-purpose flour

200g grated parmesan cheese (2/3 for the béchamel and 1/3 to sprinkle on top of the béchamel)

Preparation

Slice the potatoes, courgettes and eggplants lengthwise into ½cm slices.

Deep fry them - first the potatoes, then add the eggplants and finally add the courgettes.

Remove them and place them on absorbent kitchen paper to drain off as much oil as possible.

The Sauce

Gently fry the onions in a large pan.

Add the crushed garlic and stir for 1 minute.

Add the mushrooms and continue stirring.

Add the tomatoes and bay leaves.

Add the parsley.

Continue heating until all the juice has been absorbed and you have a thick sauce.

Béchamel

In a heavy-bottomed pan gently heat the butter until it melts.

Add the flour and stir continuously.

Add half of the milk and continue to stir with a whisk.

When the mixture starts to thicken, add the rest of the milk whilst stirring continuously.

When it starts to thicken again, lower the temperature to the minimum and add the grated cheese and then turn off.

In a deep oven dish place a layer with half of the potatoes at the bottom.

Add a layer with the courgettes on top and then a layer with the eggplants.

Spread the sauce on top.

Add a final layer with the remaining potatoes on top of the sauce.

Add the béchamel on top and sprinkle the remaining cheese over it.

Bake in a pre-heated moderate oven for approx. 40 minutes or until it has turned a golden colour on top.

A nice, healthy dish that is actually a lot more filling than it may appear to the eyes. This can be eaten as a main dish at lunch along with salad or can be part of a buffet meal. In the photo the balls are long, but you can also make them round.

Ingredients

1 kg boiled chickpeas

600g bulgur

1 kg mashed onions

7 pieces sun-dried tomato

1 tablespoon chopped spring onion 1 clove of garlic

Marjoram

Flour

Some parsley

For the sauce

3-4 tomatoes

1 teaspoon sugar

1 clove of garlic

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil

Preparation

Soak the chickpeas from the previous evening and boil them with the marjoram. Once they're boiledand soft, remove the skin and place them in a bowl and mash them.

Add the bulgur, having washed it well first. Then add both kinds of onions, 1 clove of garlic, chopped finely, salt and pepper. Finally, add the sun-dried tomato and mix all the ingredients well. Knead the mixture with your hands until you have created a smooth mixture, and place it in the fridge for a few minutes to harden a little bit.

Make the mixture into balls (long or round) and sprinkle them with flour. Fry them in plenty of oil and then put them on a plate where you have laid a paper towel, to absorb the oil.

Sauce

Heat some oil in another frying pan and brown the clove of garlic. Once it gives off its aroma, remove it from the frying pan.

Add the grated tomatoes and lower the heat. When it comes to a boil, add salt, pepper and some sugar if the tomato is very fresh. Let it simmer for 15 minutes.

To serve, pour the sauce on the dish and place the chickpea balls on top of it.