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Tavas

Name: Tavas
Total time: 120 min
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Cyprus
Ingredients: 600g Lamb; 4 Potato; 2 Onion; 2 Tomato; 2 tsp Cumin Seeds; 1 tbsp Wine Vinegar; 3 tbsp Olive oil; 2 tsp Salt; 1/2 tsp Black Pepper; 200ml Water

Main Dish

⏱ 120 min

👥 Serves 4

Difficulty ⭐

Lamb, potatoes, and onions scented with cumin and baked in a clay pot — a Cypriot village dish.

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📖 The Story Behind This Dish

Tavas takes its name from the clay pot it's cooked in: lamb, potato, onion, and tomato are scented with cumin, covered, and baked slowly in a bread oven. It's said to come from the village of Athienou near Nicosia, where Sunday feasts were once cooked in the residual heat of the village bread oven.

🌆 Where it's eaten: Clay pots come out of a Cypriot village's communal bread oven one after another as families collect their steaming pots and carry them home.

🥕 Ingredients (serves 4)

Lamb 600g
Potato 4
Onion 2
Tomato 2
Cumin Seeds 2 tsp
Wine Vinegar 1 tbsp
Olive oil 3 tbsp
Salt 2 tsp
Black Pepper 1/2 tsp
Water 200ml

👩‍🍳 Instructions

Cut the lamb into large pieces and marinate in salt, pepper, cumin, and vinegar for 1 hour.
Cut the potatoes and onions into large pieces and chop the tomatoes.
Put the meat and vegetables in a clay or heavy ovenproof pot and add olive oil and water.
Cover and bake at 170°C for 1½ hours.
Uncover and bake 15 minutes to brown the top.

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