Siron

Siron is a type of handmade pasta that can be found in grocery stores that sell Pontiac products.

Pontus is a region on the eastern shores of the Black Sea in modern-day Turkey, the homeland of many Greeks since ancient times until the genocide that was instigated by the government of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish national movement against the indigenous Greek population of Asia Minor. This genocide included massacres, forced deportations involving death marches, summary expulsions, arbitrary executions, and the destruction of Eastern Orthodox cultural, historical, and religious monuments during World War I and its aftermath (1914–1922) on the basis of the Greeks’ religion and ethnicity.

Most of the refugees and survivors fled to Greece (adding over a quarter to the prior population of Greece). Some, especially those in Eastern provinces, took refuge in the neighboring Russian Empire.

Siron involves thin pastry-sheets made from dough that has been cut into strips and then folded into small rolls. They have a hilopites like flavor. In the marketplace, you can find them, in dry form, under the name sironi or siron.

Siron can be eaten as is, like potato chips. Without boiling and with some warm water, it regains the soft texture of the pasta and when the sauce is added, it becomes a heavenly dish. The people from Pontus prepare the sauce with paskitan, their own variety of strained yogurt, which is hard to find in grocery stores.

In order to prepare siron, flour is mixed with water and salt to make a soft dough. The dough is then rolled into sheets and cut into pieces of about 3 centimeters which are then placed in a pan and baked in the oven at a medium temperature until they are brown.

The siron is then covered with water in a pan and boiled with salt or meat broth. After it has expanded, paskitan is diluted in lukewarm water and is poured over it, the dish is then sprinkled with grated garlic and melted butter and served hot.