Soutzoukakia: Greek Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Soutzoukakia are oval, cumin-spiced meatballs simmered in tomato sauce. The dish comes from Smyrna (today's Izmir) and was brought to Greece by refugees from Asia Minor in the 1920s.

Serves: 4 | Prep: 25 min | Cook: 45 min

Ingredients

• 500 g minced beef, or half beef and half pork
• 75 g stale bread, soaked in a little red wine and squeezed
• 1 onion, finely grated
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 egg
• 1.5 tsp ground cumin
• Salt and pepper
• Flour for dusting
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 400 g crushed tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp sugar

Method

1. Knead the mince with the bread, onion, garlic, egg, cumin, salt and pepper until smooth.
2. Shape into oval meatballs about 7 cm long, dust with flour and brown all over in the olive oil. Remove from the pan.
3. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaf, cinnamon and sugar to the pan and simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Return the meatballs to the sauce and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes.
5. Remove the bay leaf and cinnamon and serve with rice or mashed potatoes.

Tips

• Grating the onion keeps the meatballs juicy.
• Short on time? Use ready-made soutzoukakia and simmer them in the same sauce.

Products from Bakaliko

• Zanae - Crushed Peeled Tomatoes 400 g
• Zanae - Tomato Paste 200 g
• Theofilos - Soutzoukakia 500 g (ready-made)

More Greek recipes

• Greek pastitsio
• Greek lamb stifado