Recipe: The ultimate Greek chips

Finally! A recipe for the best fries on the planet: Greek fries

Always wanted to know what makes those taverna fries that you eat on holiday in Greece so damn good? All you need to do is ask the Yiayia in the kitchen…

Fries / chips / papates tiganites: sweet - salty, crunchy, golden potato goodness.

Whatever you want to call them, I firmly believe that here in Greece, we do them better. As our grandmothers are making much finer fare than the tavernas, it’s to them that I look for the ultimate Greek fries recipe.

I’m finally back on the island (Corfu!) and nourishing myself, or rather, I’m being nourished by my Yiayia. The first thing she asks me when I open the door to her little white washed kitchen is ‘what do you want to eat'?’ and my answer is always, always her patates tiganites (chips).

Greek chips are hand cut, golden on the outside and sweet and fluffy on the inside. Owing to the fact that they’re cooked in olive oil, they taste incredible. Add to this a little sprinkling of Yiayia’s dried oregano and you have yourself one part of the holy trinity of Greek lunches: Chips, Tzatziki and Greek salad (recipes for the ultimate tzatziki and salad incoming).

The following recipe was kindly shared with me by the brilliant Marianna Leivaditaki - a Cretan chef who runs one of my favourite restaurants in London, Morito. She wrote the book Aegean and was one of the amazing Greek chefs I interviewed for Yiayia dedications for my new book, Yiayia.

I hope you can all enjoy these chips as much as I am these days. When I’m eating out at a taverna, for me the ultimate combo to enjoy with Greek fries is tzatziki and Greek salad but Yiayia is partial to a fried egg, a bit of feta and a fresh, zingy tomato salad.

However you choose to eat yours, don’t forget the hefty sprinkling of dried oregano and a nice, chunky sea salt flake…

Recipe: The Ultimate Greek Fries by Yiayia Athina