Tsigareli
Tsigareli is traditional Corfiot home cooking at its simplest: seasonal leafy greens, traditionally a mixture of wild plants, briefly boiled and then cooked with onion, olive oil and seasoning. It is a wonderful example of the island's less-famous vegetable cuisine.
A rustic Corfiot dish of wild leafy greens cooked with olive oil and spices.
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cooking Time
25 minutes
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy
Dietary Tags
Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten Free
true
Ingredients
- 1 kg mixed leafy greens, such as chard, spinach, dandelion greens, chicory, nettles or other edible greens
- 1 large red onion, finely chopped
- 80 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- Pinch of hot red pepper, optional
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp tomato paste, optional depending on family style
- Lemon wedges, to serve
Method
- Wash the greens extremely well, removing any tough stalks.
- Blanch them briefly in boiling salted water until just wilted, then drain thoroughly and roughly chop.
- Heat the olive oil in a wide pan and cook the red onion gently until softened.
- Add the paprika and, if using, hot pepper and tomato paste. Cook briefly without scorching the spices.
- Add the drained greens and toss thoroughly through the seasoned oil and onion.
- Cook for 8-12 minutes until the flavours have combined and excess moisture has evaporated.
- Season to taste and serve warm or at room temperature, with lemon if desired.
Recipe Tips
- Traditional winter versions can contain a remarkable variety of wild greens. At home, use a mixture rather than relying only on spinach.
- Only forage plants you can identify with certainty; shop-bought chard, chicory and spinach are safer substitutes.
- The precise seasoning varies between Corfiot households, so treat paprika, chilli and tomato paste as adjustable.
What to Serve With
Serve as a meze, vegetable side dish or light meal with bread, olives and feta. Traditionally it is particularly good alongside wine.
Where to Try It in Corfu
Tsigareli is traditionally associated with home cooking, but there are good places to experience it in a restaurant. Avli Restaurant in Corfu Town serves a traditional version made with wild edible plants, spicy peppers and tomato sauce. Delfini Restaurant in Agios Georgios Pagon offers a more contemporary interpretation as a Tsigareli flatbread with smoked greens, tomato confit and herbs.
Recipe Story / Corfu Connection
Tsigareli reflects a quieter side of Corfiot food culture that visitors can easily miss. The dish developed from seasonal home cooking, using mixtures of edible wild greens gathered according to what the landscape provided. Rather than one fixed combination, households could use many different plants through the cooler months. Cooked with olive oil, onion and seasoning, tsigareli shows how strongly traditional Corfiot cooking is connected to seasonality, the countryside and making full use of local produce.