Soutzoukakia from Smyrna

Soutzoukakia is a special Greek dish with minced meat and red sauce accompanied with French fries or rice. Its origin is from Smyrna and its preparation is not very difficult.

INGREDIENTS:

Half a kilo of minced veal meat
4 slices of bread
1 wine glass of olive oil
5 squashed tomatoes or a spoonful of tomato paste and a box of tomato juice
1 spoonful of cumin
4-5 smashed garlic cloves
Salt
Pepper
A cup of water

Preparation:

We put the bread in a bowl of water and when it's all wet we remove the water and the bread's crust and we add the minced meat, the cumin, the garlic, the salt and pepper and we mix well with our hands until we have a unified mixture. We take small quantities of the mixture and create long, narrow pieces that look like small sausages.
There are two ways of pre-baking soutzoukakia. The traditional way is to fry them in a pan of hot olive oil. The second way is to grill them lightly in the oven and then put them in a big pot where you will also add the tomatoes. It would be best to use fresh instead of canned tomatoes. After that you should add a glass of water, salt, pepper and half a teaspoon of sugar.
After the sauce is boiled add the soutzoukakia in the mixture and after 15 minutes (in medium temperature) the food is ready to be enjoyed. You can add green olives inside the sauce to add a special flavour.
You can either serve with rice or mashed potatoes or your favourite pasta
Half a kilo of minced meat corresponds to three good portions.

Greek Recipes