The Greek salad is a bit of phenomenon around the world and we’re all more or less aware of what goes in. But did you know there is another Greek salad that is equally tasty, maybe even more so? This particular salad; the dakos salad is originally from the island of Crete but can be found on other Greek islands as well. During our recent visit to Karpathos island I wanted to try something different and ordered the dakos salad.

Greek dakos salad

A dakos salad is also known as koukouvagia, koukouvayia or kouloukopsomo. Depending on which region you are in. It is originally from Crete and is considered a mezze (appetizer). However, I can tell you that it works perfectly as a full meal for lunch. I might actually think this is the best salad and yes, even better than the traditional Greek salad! I’ll tell you why in a bit.

If you’re looking for something to compare it with, it is a bit similar maybe to the Italian panzanella. Although the bread served with the dakos salad is whole and is usually a cretan rusk. It kind of depends where you are obviously, but I found the two comparable although with a different flavor altogether.

What do you need to make this simple salad

tomatoes – choose lovely ripe and fragrant tomatoes. This won’t work with bland ones
red onion
Greek olives – kalamata olives would be preferred
capers
parsley
basil – fresh oregano would be a good replacement
red wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil – obviously Greek olive oil would be the best for this
cretan barley rusks – for lack of finding something like that here you can also use whole wheat bread. whole wheat rusks are best. But another crusty bread will do as well
feta cheese

Paximathia

Traditionally, the dakos salad is served with a hard round barley rusks, usually spelt, called paximathia. If you look closely at the photos, you can still see the bread. Buried under the feta, olives and juicy tomatoes, but it is there. Essentially it is twice-baked bread making it firm and better to withstand the amount of moisture coming from the olive oil, vinegar and the fresh tomatoes.

What’s the difference between dakos and greek salad?

Good question; I think a Greek salad is simpler in terms of the fresh ingredients used. That is generally nothing more than feta, red onion, cucumber, olives and tomatoes and with some added extra virgin olive oil of course. Dakos has more depth of flavor with added capers, the fresh bread and more of everything in there. It’s hard to explain the difference without having tried it yourself.

Mizithra cheese

Originally the dakos salad is made with mizithra cheese, but this is often replace by feta. And since I am a true feta lover, I absolutely do not mind. Also I don’t really know where to find mizithra cheese here in the Netherlands, while feta cheese is pretty much available everywhere.

We’ve ordered the dakos salad both on Karpathos as well as on the island of Crete when we were there last year. There are different forms of presentation for the dakos salata. In Crete the bread was broken in little pieces while in Karpathos it was served whole. To be honest here will probable be as many different ways to serve this as there are people on the islands of Greece. So it doesn’t really matter how you serve it, I suppose.

The attached recipe for this cretan salad I found on the site of Simply Recipes and is pretty close to the traditional dish.