Soutzoukakia Smyrneika or İzmir köfte is a Greek and Turkish dish of spicy oblong köfte with cumin, cinnamon, and garlic served in tomato sauce. This dish along with others was brought by the refugees when they came here. It is a delicious dish, very aromatic and spicy, but not hot and it is best served over rice or pasta.
This recipe come from our friend food blogger CulinaryFlavors.Gr , it is the original recipe with all secrets ... revealed !
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
1 kilo / 2 lb ground beef
2 eggs
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
¾ cup breadcrumbs
2 tsp salt and pepper according to your liking
1 ½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried mint
1 tsp paprika
¼ cup olive oil Olive oil or any oil you like for frying
For the Tomato Sauce
4 cups tomato juice
70 gr. / 2.5 oz. tomato paste
3 tsp salt Pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 ½ tbsp. sugar
Instructions
For the Tomato Sauce
Add everything in a pot and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and let it simmer for 1 ½ hour.
For the Meatballs
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and knead just until they are incorporated.
Take a quantity equal to a small lime and make it an oval meatball.
Do the same with the rest of the ground meat.
Take about a cup of semolina or flour and flour them.
Let them rest for 30 minutes and then fry them in very hot oil.
You don’t have to fry them completely just about. Let them rest for about 10 minutes and then transfer them to the sauce.
Let them cook for 15 to 20 minutes and serve them over rice, pasta or as I did over French fries.
If you want to see the recipe with step-by-step pictures and learn the whole history behind, visit :
culinaryflavors.gr