Keftedes
Greek Meatballs with Mint
Greek meatballs are small, flavoured with mint and onion, and fried in olive oil to a dark crust. They go on a meze table with tzatziki and are eaten with the fingers. The meat mixture is left to rest in the fridge for at least an hour, and that rest is what makes them tender.
The recipe read mixes 700 g of beef mince with two red onions, a grated tomato, dried mint, milk and a little breadcrumb, rests the mixture for 1 to 6 hours, rolls it into golf-ball-sized portions, coats it in flour and fries it in olive oil.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 large tomato, grated, skin discarded
- 700 g beef mince
- 2 large red onions, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp dried mint, crumbled
- 1 tsp fine sea salt and black pepper
- 180 to 240 ml whole milk
- 25 to 50 g plain dry breadcrumbs
- 190 g plain flour, seasoned with salt
- Olive oil, 2.5 cm deep in the pan, to shallow-fry
Method
- Mix Put the mince, onions, tomato, mint, salt and pepper in a large bowl and knead for 3 minutes. Add the milk a little at a time, kneading until it is absorbed, and add breadcrumbs if the mixture is too wet to shape.
- Rest Cover and chill for at least 1 hour and up to 6 hours, which firms the mixture and lets the mint flavour it.
- Shape and coat Roll the mixture into balls the size of a golf ball. Roll each in the seasoned flour and shake off the excess.
- Fry Heat 2.5 cm of olive oil in a large frying pan to about 175°C. Fry the meatballs in batches for 6 to 8 minutes, turning, until dark golden and cooked through with no pink in the centre. Drain on kitchen paper and serve warm with tzatziki.
Food safety
Hot oil: do not leave the pan unattended and do not add wet meatballs, which spit. Check that the middle of a meatball is piping hot and no longer pink.
Wet hands make shaping easier.
Flour only just before frying, or it turns to paste.