Main Course
Soutzoukakia Politika (Greek Meatballs Without Tomato)
- Total timeTotal
- 1 hr 30′
- ServingsServings
- 6
Soutzoukakia are elongated Greek meatballs, fragrant with cumin and garlic, and a dish with a long tradition. The best-known recipe cooks them in tomato sauce, but in my family we made an old recipe from Constantinople (today's Istanbul): soutzoukakia Politika, without tomato.
Soutzoukakia are elongated Greek meatballs, fragrant with cumin and garlic, and a dish with a long tradition. The best-known recipe cooks them in tomato sauce, but in my family we made an old recipe from Constantinople (today's Istanbul): soutzoukakia Politika, without tomato. Their aroma is unique and doesn't need tomato to cover it, but you'll have to try them to see for yourself!
Step by step
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The recipe
Soutzoukakia Politika Recipe
Total time 1 hr 30′ · 6 servings
Ingredients
Method
- Start by removing the crust from the bread and soaking it in the wine on a plate.
- Peel the onion and grate it on the coarse side of a box grater. Sauté it gently in a nonstick frying pan with 2 tbsp olive oil, until soft.
- In a large bowl, add the ground beef, the sautéed onion with its oil, the eggs, the cumin, the crushed garlic, the salt, the pepper and the bread, squeezed of its wine.
- Keep the rest of the wine; you’ll need it later.
- Knead the mixture well with your hands and shape 25–30 soutzoukakia.
- In a large pot, heat plenty of olive oil over high heat and fry the soutzoukakia in batches until nicely browned. The oil only needs to come halfway up the soutzoukakia; turn them so they brown on both sides.
- Once all the soutzoukakia are ready, put them in a clean pot with a small wine glass of olive oil, turn up the heat and deglaze with the wine you kept, then after 1 minute with the juice of half a lemon and the vinegar. Stir, lower the heat a lot and simmer, covered, for 20–30 minutes, so the soutzoukakia cook through.
- Finally, add the cognac, uncover the pot and wait 5 minutes for the alcohol to evaporate.
- Serve the soutzoukakia Politika with rice or mashed potatoes.
- TipYou can also make a red tomato sauce and, after frying, cook the soutzoukakia in it. With tomato, they become the well-known Smyrna-style soutzoukakia.
