H/W: Vegan, Traditional Fanouropitta

Fanouropitta is a sweet pie from Greek cuisine. It is offered on the memory day of St. Fanourios on August 27, when the pie is given to Greek Orthodox believers as a blessing.

Fanouropitta is oil-based and does not contain any butter or eggs, so it can be eaten on religious fasting days.

Believers seek to offer the cake and get "revelation" of objects or people in general, or to find something they are looking for.

Ingredients:

Fanouropitta traditionally consists of seven, nine or eleven ingredients, the number varying by region. In its simplest version, fanouropitta has only 7 materials.

The ingredients must be all intact, so it does not contain olive oil but vegetable oil. The basic, most common ingredients are: flour, vegetable oil, sugar, orange juice, baking powder, nuts & raisins. Other materials may include cinnamon, cloves, soda, water, sesame, nuts and olives.

Preparation:

The solid ingredients are mixed together. The liquid ingredients are also mixed together, separately from the solid ones.

Afterwards the two mixes are mixed together in a round baking pan, which is put in the oven, at about 170-180 C, for about an hour.

After it is out of the oven it is left to cool down and then it is powdered with sifted sugar.

Tradition:

Fanouropitta is blessed in church and its pieces are offered to people.

According to tradition, it is offered for the forgiveness of the Saint Fanourios' mother, a sinful woman who behaved very cruelly to the poor.

In popular culture:

In various areas of Greece and Cyprus, the tradition is followed by Orthodox Christians asking Saint Fanourios to "reveal" a job to the unemployed, to salvage an item that was lost or a lost case, or to give health and find a groom for unmarried girls.