Roditiki Lakani

One of its most characteristic and at the same time most exciting dishes Rhodes is Lacan (Basin). On the eve of the Holy Apostles in Lindos, all the households made the lakani and ate it as a family day.

It was presented to us by Mauritanian brothers, Dimitris and Michalis, in their beautiful house in Lindos, since as appetizers they offered us Rhodesian cheese, linden shrimp, shrimp pate, imam eggplants, etc. Our heart was stolen by the lacana both from its presentation, in the relevant utensil - the lacana (an impressively large ceramic bag) - as well as its take-off taste, where it was beef with fat cooked 24 hours in the oven. One of the most beautiful flavors of traditional food I have ever tasted.

Looking back on the excellent book "Far Smell, the culinary heritage of Rhodes", by George Troumouchis and Costas Kapsanakis, where the gastronomic wealth of the island has been recorded in detail, we discover in the entry Lakani the following information.

"Lakani or Lekani: A food that we find in several villages of Rhodes with small variations, usually at Easter. In Lindos without chickpeas, in Siana only with porridge or thick, etc. The way of baking was the same everywhere, they put it in the wood oven from the previous night and sealed the oven door with mud to be baked until the next day. "

Recipe for lacana

• 2 kilos of goat meat cut into pieces
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 400 grams of chickpeas
• 300 grams thick
• 2 chopped onions
• 2 cups olive oil
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• long smell (cumin)
• Salt Pepper

The Moorish brothers obviously cooked Lacan in the Linden version, meat with fat but also added their touch, when in the oven together with the fat and other ingredients (meat, onions, garlic, tomato, which had been fried for a while in the pan) they had thrown in the place of the cumin - really how much cumin do the Rhodians put in their food? - bergamot crumb which gave the dish a very light, discreet and pleasant taste.