Here is a selection of a few good Greek recipes that can bring the taste and smells of the Hellenic nation. 

The best way to sample an exotic dish from a foreign land is to visit the place and let the locals make it for you. But with the current ban on international travel from India, which seems to be never-ending, the next best thing is for one to try and cook some of the dishes at home, in an attempt to lighten up a home-strapped mundane life with some tasty new food from different parts of the world.

Greek cuisine, with its wide variety of ingredients and vast combinations, enjoys a privileged position in the global culture of taste alternatives. The common raw ingredients and flavours in Greek cuisine are meat, fish, seafood, milk or cheese, vegetables, bay leaves, rosemary, lemon, oregano, thyme and olive oil. Additionally, wine and fruits are a bonus.

The famous Aegean Makarounes (hand-made fresh pasta with caramelised onions), Kassian Pilaf, Sgardoumia (offal soup) from Santorini, Karpathos Vyzanti (stuffed lamb or goat with bulghur wheat cooked in a wood-burning oven), Serifos Marathotiganites (fennel rissoles), Dolmadakia made with vine leaves and herbs, Melitera (sweet cheese pies with vanilla) from Anafi, and Sifnos’sMelopita (honey pie) are some of the numerous dishes that can be tweaked a bit and made at home.

The flavours of the Ionian Islands, with their Italian names and distinctive character, form a separate chapter in the Greek culinary arts. Savoro, which means sour, is a wonderful recipe with rosemary and vinegar widely used in the islands to season and preserve fish, as well as vegetables. Bourdetto (scorpion fish cooked in a red-hot spicy tomato sauce), Strapatsada (scrambled eggs with tomato and feta), Tsigareli(wild greens or cabbage in spicy tomato sauce), Pastitsio tis nonas (baked pasta and mince with a béchamel sauce topping), Bakaliaros me agiada (de-salted preserved codfish fillets with skordalia garlic sauce) are some of the dishes that are identified with this region.

On the other side, Crete region has its own Cretan culinary history of traditional Chania Pilaf Rice prepared with rooster or other forms of meat, fresh salads and traditional Dakos (barley rusks with fresh tomato, soft white cheese and olive oil) etc. Stuffed baby goat or Kapamas, Boukounies (pork cooked in various herbs) as well as excellent sweets and desserts, such as Xerotigana (fried spiral pastries in syrup or honey) and Pastelaries (dried figs with almonds and sesame seeds) are quite famous from Crete as culinary delights.

Here are five famous but simple Greek recipes that can be tried at home.

Horiatiki

Horiatiki salad is the most popular salad in Greece generally made with pieces of tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, feta cheese (usually served as a slice on top of the other ingredients), and ideally Kalamata olives and dressed with salt, pepper, oregano and olive oil.

Link to the recipe:

www.visitgreece.gr/en/gastronomy/recipes/greek_salad

Moussaka

Moussaka is a creamy layered dish, based on eggplant or potato, often including ground meat with the top layer made of milk-based sauce thickened with egg custard or béchamel sauce.

Link to the recipe:

http://www.visitgreece.gr/en/gastronomy/recipes/mousaka

Revithada

Revithada is a really plain chickpea soup that generally gets cooked over low heat in a wood-fired oven, inside a clay casserole. Try on any cooking system in low heat if a wood-fired oven is out of reach!

Link to the recipe:

http://www.visitgreece.gr/en/gastronomy/recipes/chickpea_soup_from_sifnos_island

Melitini

Melitini means sweet cheese tartlets, made with unsalted mizithra cheese, similar to ricotta and yoghurt, a typical eastern Greek dessert from the island of Santorini.

Link to the recipe:

http://www.visitgreece.gr/en/gastronomy/recipes/melitini_means_sweet_cheese_tartlets_from_santorini

Ladenia

Ladenia is a traditional Greek flatbread fluffy pie from Kimolos, a healthier version of pizza, made of tomato, onion and of course extra virgin olive oil.

Link to the recipe:

http://www.visitgreece.gr/en/gastronomy/recipes/ladenia_from_kimolos