4 tbs crumbled soft anari cheese
1 tbs maple syrup (a little more if you like things very sweet)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1.5 tbs dry roasted walnuts
1. Lightly toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan on medium heat. This should take about 2 minutes.
2. Put the anari cheese in a small bowl and use a fork to crumble the same.
3. Drizzle the maple syrup, then sprinkle the walnuts and the cinnamon on top. Enjoy as a quick breakfast or afternoon snack.
This week my aunt went away on holiday and gave me some fresh “anari” cheese. I know people enjoy “anari” with honey and carob syrup but I wanted something different. “Been there, eaten that”, I thought. I still wanted something sweet and nutty, that could be good as a quick breakfast with some fruit, or an afternoon snack with some coffee. And something easy to make. As it gets hotter I find myself craving simple, fast and flavourful foods. In the summer months it is definitely possible to find easy-to-make recipes, you just have to find the right ones. Because I’ll be talking about how to make “anari” in a later post, for now I will just say that “anari” is a traditional low-fat Cypriot cheese. When it is freshly made, it is a very soft cheese – sort of like ricotta in texture.
So this week, on someone’s recommendation (an American-In-Cyprus) I paired it with a little maple syrup, cinnamon and some freshly toasted walnuts. It is as good as it is simple to make. Lots of flavour, and the sweetness is balanced out by the cheese and walnuts. It is fairly easy to find maple syrup in Cyprus now. Most of the larger grocery stores stock it. I think the bigger challenge is to find anari outside of Cyprus. Can you? It would be interesting to hear your opinions.
As for now, it is summertime. And my mind is wandering to watermelons, figs, the beach and ice cream. More on that next week though as right now it is time for my delicious “anari” snack! Enjoy!
Is there a substitute for anari cheese? Will ricotta, homemade cottage cheese, or queso fresco work? I guess I could make my own, it is easy enough.
I actually accidentally made cheese one day when I left my mesophilic filmjolk yogurt over culture. LOL I kept it anyway, mixed in the whey and made smoothies out of it. If I had drained the whey out, it would have made and excellent sweet milk cheese.
We live in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere Texas so finding Anari cheese is out of the question. I have to make a lot of things from scratch. Better for us anyway.
We are diabetic so we will have to use sugar free maple syrup. I know this is tragic but maybe a tiny bit of real thing would be o.k.
We do fine on coconut sugar but I am not sure about maple syrup.
Great recipe, thanks for this!
Hello! Thanks for stopping by the site and commenting – great to hear from you! I am so impressed that you make a lot of things from scratch! I also completely believe that it’s better to make things from scratch too. I think coconut sugar sounds delicious – I have not tried it before, but can imagine if that was added to anari, it would go well. Anari cheese comes in a hard dried form (which is good over pasta) or the fresh way (like in this recipe). The fresh kind is actually a lot like ricotta and I think it would go really well together. So definitely a fantastic combination to try. I think homemade cottage cheese would also go really nicely with maple syrup – and even coconut sugar. I am actually not that familiar with queso fresco! What is it? Hope you enjoy – let me know how it goes! Christina xx
“Cyprus Cuisine”, published by Whitecap Books in 2021, is now available for purchase. Christina Loucas shares over 80 recipes that showcase the very best of Cypriot cooking.
Is there a substitute for anari cheese? Will ricotta, homemade cottage cheese, or queso fresco work? I guess I could make my own, it is easy enough.
I actually accidentally made cheese one day when I left my mesophilic filmjolk yogurt over culture. LOL I kept it anyway, mixed in the whey and made smoothies out of it. If I had drained the whey out, it would have made and excellent sweet milk cheese.
We live in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere Texas so finding Anari cheese is out of the question. I have to make a lot of things from scratch. Better for us anyway.
We are diabetic so we will have to use sugar free maple syrup. I know this is tragic but maybe a tiny bit of real thing would be o.k.
We do fine on coconut sugar but I am not sure about maple syrup.
Great recipe, thanks for this!
Hello! Thanks for stopping by the site and commenting – great to hear from you! I am so impressed that you make a lot of things from scratch! I also completely believe that it’s better to make things from scratch too. I think coconut sugar sounds delicious – I have not tried it before, but can imagine if that was added to anari, it would go well. Anari cheese comes in a hard dried form (which is good over pasta) or the fresh way (like in this recipe). The fresh kind is actually a lot like ricotta and I think it would go really well together. So definitely a fantastic combination to try. I think homemade cottage cheese would also go really nicely with maple syrup – and even coconut sugar. I am actually not that familiar with queso fresco! What is it? Hope you enjoy – let me know how it goes! Christina xx