Faux Trahana - Happy Birthday Sweet Lokuma!

I am celebrating Lokuma's birthday with a breakfast inspired by a dish her grandmother used to cook for her.

Since I didn't have any trahana on hand, I quickly reheated 1/2 a cup of emmer farro and topped it with 1/3 tbsp of melted butter + sweet paprika and 1 oz feta cheese (French feta from Costco).


Oh my...!

More on trahana after the jump...

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about Lokuma's favorite breakfast:

Tarhana (Turkish), tarkhina, tarkhana, tarkhwana (Persian ترخینه، ترخانه، ترخوانه), trachanas/trahanas (Greek τραχανάς) or (xino)chondros ((ξυνό)χονδρος), trahana (Albanian), трахана/тархана (Bulgarian), kishk (Egypt), orkushuk (Iraq) are dried foods based on a fermented mixture of grain and yoghurtor fermented milk, usually made into a thick soup with water, stock, or milk (Persian Ash-e tarkhina doogh آش ترخینه دوغ). As it is both acid and low in moisture the milk proteins keep for long periods. Tarhana is very similar to some kinds of kishk.

The Turkish tarhana consists of cracked wheat (or flour), yoghurt, and vegetablesfermented then dried. The Greek cuisine trahana contains only cracked wheat or a cous cous-like pasta and fermented milk. In Cyprus, it is considered a national specialty, and is often flavored with bay leaf, wild thyme, and fennel seed.

Like many other foodstuffs which originated from the need to preserve food—cured ham, smoked fish,and the like—tarhana soup is often eaten as a matter of taste and choice where fresh food is abundant and refrigeration available.

Tarhana may be stored and sold as small cakes or coarse lumps. It is usually available in packets in shops selling food products from the regions where tarhana is eaten.