Authentic-ish Greek

Revithada is a masterpiece of Greek island cooking, specifically from Sifnos. It is literally just dried chickpeas, onions, water, lemon juice, and a massive glug of olive oil, baked slowly overnight in a clay pot.

Can I mathematically raise the proportion of protein compared to the energy it brings? Yes. If I strip out 150g of olive oil, the fat drops through the floor, leaving the protein from the chickpeas untouched. But if you do that, you ruin the food completely.

The entire magic of revithada relies on the olive oil emulsifying with the chickpea starch over 6 hours of slow cooking. That slow process creates a thick, creamy, savoury broth. Take the oil away, and you are left with sad, wet beans sitting in thin onion water.

I could dump diced chicken breast into the pot to force the protein up, but then it isn't revithada anymore, it's a chicken stew. I could stir in Greek yoghurt at the end, which would curdle instantly in the acidic lemon broth and look like a terrible mistake. I could use less oil and try to thicken the broth with cornflour, but the flavour would be hollow and depressing.

Some traditional dishes are already perfect exactly as they are. This is peasant food at its absolute peak, designed to feed hard-working people using only what grew on a dry, rocky island. The chickpeas bring plenty of fibre and a decent amount of protein anyway.

Eat the traditional version. Find a recipe that uses at least 200ml of good olive oil. Bake it until the top goes crusty and dark. Mop up that glorious oily sauce with a thick chunk of white bread. Accept what it costs you in energy, and just eat a lighter dinner the next day.

Angurodomata is just cucumber, tomatoes, red wine vinegar and olive oil. There's essentially zero protein in this dish. I could mathematically raise the proportion of protein by dropping the olive oil down to a miserable drop, but taking a salad from 1% protein to 3% protein is a waste of time.

I could also dump a pile of cooked chicken breast on top, but then it isn't Angurodomata anymore, it's a chicken salad. Some things just are what they are, and you can't force them into a new shape.

This is a classic side dish. You don't need to fix it. Eat it exactly as the Greeks do, dressed generously with good oil, and serve it next to a massive piece of grilled meat to hit your targets. Trying to hack a cucumber into a high-protein meal is a fool's game.

Shredded cos, spring onion, dill, lemon and olive oil. That is the whole dish and it comes in at 161 kcal a serving, of which about 130 is the oil.

Apply the dressing ratio from the swap kit, 2 parts oil to 1 of lemon rather than 4 to 1, and you are at roughly 90 kcal. That saving is real and it took one sentence, which is why it is in the swap kit rather than here.

I drafted a version that added 600g of chicken breast. The protein went from 1g per 100 kcal to 15.6, which looks spectacular until you notice I had turned a side salad into a main course and then compared the two. That is not a lighter maroulosalata. It is a chicken salad standing where one used to be.

Make it as it is, dress it properly, and put it next to something.