Keftedes – Κεφτεδεs

My daughter’s graduation from high school is this coming Friday. Hooray!!!

She decided that she doesn’t want a big party like many kids want and she only wants a few of her friends and a few of mine to come over. After the graduation ceremony at school we will come home to have something to eat and drink. It will be a bit late for a sit-down dinner so I opted for finger foods.

On the finger foods menu we had to have something Greek – tyropittes and Cyprus style meatballs are a must!

 

Every culture has it’s own variation of a meatball recipe – one of the most versatile dishes! In the Cypriot cuisine we have our own which includes grated potato in the mixture. Yes, you have read correctly – grated potato along with parsley, mint …and other ingredients. Our meatballs is a meal by itself! Growing up I had to take meatballs to every school trip and picnic as if only meatballs could keep me in good health :-) according to my beloved mom’s nutritional book.  :-)

I learned how to make meatballs at the age of 12 years old. I made them successfully – with no salt but eatable according to my family’s comments at the time.

Recenty, I have discovered that you can also bake/grill them instead of frying them. This makes them a lot healthier and there’s no compromise on the taste – you’ve got my promise on that.

For my beloved vegetarian friends I suggest to use soya – I have also made the meatballs successfully with soya. 

Or you can go with a vegan recipe! 

Here's my variation of the Cyprus meatballs recipe

2 pounds ground beef (can a pound beef and a pound pork)

5 medium red potatoes – after they are grated 2 cups

1 medium yellow onion

¼ cup fine bread crumbs

½ cup chopped parsley

1/4 teaspoon dry mint

1 egg

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Salt

Black pepper

For frying:

1 ½ cups canola oil

Makes approximately 60~65 round meatballs of one inch diameter

In a large bowl, mix the ground beef with the bread crumbs, finely chopped parsley, egg and spices.

Grate the potatoes and onion. You can either grate in a food processor or with a traditional grater. Place in a colander to get rid of any excess liquid. You should have approximately two cups of grated potatoes and onion.

Add in the meat mixture. Mix with your hands well.

Cover with plastic cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before shaping the meatballs.

Fry in canola oil over medium high heat. The meatballs are cooked once they have a brown color on all sides.

Serve hot.

Καλη ορεξη!