Greek Recipes with May Lerios: Stuffed Pitas

For 6 people

• a batch of keftethes, but instead of shaping them into round balls, turn them into twelve oblong disks by flattening each ball before frying.

Using the pot in which you fried the keftethes, prepare

• french fries. You'll only need a handful (24 fries) to stuff the pitas, but making extra as a side dish is a good idea.

Prepare

• one batch of tzatziki..

Cut up

• one large tomato, and

• 1/4 of a cucumber (about 2'' of length suffices).

The tomato should be sliced into 24 sandwich-like slices, and then each should be cut in half to form two half-disks. The cucumber should first be peeled, and then cut in 36 very thin slices lengthwise.

Heat in a frying pan

• 1 tsp of vegetable oil (a total of 12 tsp will be used for this recipe).

Fry lightly

• 1 small pita (about 4'' diameter; taco-size). A total of 12 pitas will be used for this recipe.

Repeat the above steps for the remaining 11 pitas, using a fresh spoonful of oil for each one. After the first one, the pan will be hot enough that you can place the oil and pita in it at the same time. Each pita will fully absorb its spoonfull of oil while frying, so you don't have to worry about the pan overflowing.

The usual pita bread is the Lebanese kind and is sold in the bakery section of many grocery stores. However, the best kind is usually found in the frozen food section of groceries that import Mediterranean food: it's fluffier (when thawed, of course) and thicker than the Lebanese kind. Make sure that you don't fry the pitas too much, otherwise they won't be able to open up (Lebanese kind) or bend (fluffy kind). For a healthier alternative use the Lebanese kind and don't fry it at all.

Prepare each pita by stuffing it with (Lebanese kind) or wrapping it around (fluffy kind) the following:

• 1 kefte,
• 2 fries,
• 4 pieces of tomato,
• 3 slices of cucumber, and
• 4/3 tbsp of tzatziki.