Prasorizo

Greek leeks cooked down with rice and olive oil into a soft, lemony one-pot fasting dish

Origin: Greece

From the journey of Leek.

This is Greek fasting food, which in Greece is not a penance but a whole genre of cooking with its own logic. The Orthodox calendar removes meat, dairy, and eggs for something approaching half the year: the forty days before Easter, the Nativity fast, the Dormition fast in August, and most Wednesdays and Fridays besides. What fills the gap is the ladera, the dishes cooked in olive oil, and a large proportion of the Greek vegetable repertoire exists because of that calendar rather than in spite of it. Prasorizo is one of the plainest and best of them. Leeks are sweated at length in a generous quantity of olive oil until they are entirely soft and sweet, rice is stirred in, and the whole is cooked with water or a light stock until the rice is done and the mixture has gone thick and almost creamy without a drop of dairy anywhere. Lemon and dill go in at the end. The oil is not a cooking medium here so much as an ingredient, and the quantity that looks alarming to a modern eye is the point: it is what supplies the richness that butter and cream would supply elsewhere. Greek cooks do not reduce it and a prasorizo made with three tablespoons of oil is a thin and disappointing thing. It is eaten warm rather than hot, or at room temperature the next day, which is the standard treatment for the whole ladera family. A bowl of it with a wedge of lemon, some olives, and bread is a complete meal, and it is on Greek tables all winter.

Ingredients

Leeks

  • 1 kg leeks, white and pale green only, split, washed, and sliced

Base

  • 120 ml extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 whole onion, finely chopped
  • 2 whole spring onions, sliced

Rice

  • 200 g medium-grain rice
  • 700 ml hot water or light vegetable stock
  • 1 tbsp tomato purée, optional

Seasoning

  • 1.5 tsp salt, or to taste
  • 0.5 tsp freshly ground black pepper

To Finish

  • 4 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice, plus wedges to serve

Method

  1. Warm the olive oil in a wide heavy pan and add the onion, spring onions, and leeks with a pinch of salt.
  2. Cover and sweat over a low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring now and then, until the leeks have collapsed entirely and turned sweet.
  3. Stir in the tomato purée if using and cook for two minutes.
  4. Add the rice and stir for a minute so every grain is coated in the oil.
  5. Pour in the hot water or stock, add the salt and pepper, bring to a simmer, then cover and cook on the lowest heat for 18 to 20 minutes.
  6. Check that the rice is tender and the liquid absorbed. If it is still firm, add a splash more hot water and give it another five minutes.
  7. Take off the heat, stir in the dill and lemon juice, cover, and leave to stand for ten minutes.
  8. Taste for salt and lemon, and serve warm rather than hot, with lemon wedges.

Notes

Medium-grain rice gives the soft, slightly creamy texture the dish wants. Long-grain stays too separate; risotto rice goes gluey. Do not reduce the olive oil. It is the richness of the dish and the reason it works without any dairy. A handful of crumbled feta on top is common outside the fasting periods and turns it into a fuller supper. It keeps three days refrigerated and is genuinely good cold, which is how leftovers are eaten. Loosen with a little water and oil if reheating. Serve with olives, bread, and a tomato salad, or alongside grilled fish outside a fast.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

Mapping Culinary History

To explore — select an ingredient below.

Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
© 2026 The Gastrographer. All original research, narratives, and illustrations. All rights reserved.