Laiik Makes Greek Food: Keftedakia (aka, Greek Meatballs)
Simple and delicious, and served at all the Greek tavernas, keftedakia tend to be a hit no matter what the season. For the hot month of August, we made keftedakia and kept them light and fresh, by baking them and pairing them with a minty yogurt dip! So grab your greek sandals, head to the butchers, and come make Greek food with us.
Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Portions: 2-3 portions (approximately 50 small meatballs)
Ingredients
For the meatballs
300 g (10.6 oz) ground beef
200 g (7 oz) ground pork
100 g (⅔ cup) breadcrumbs
100 ml (3.65 oz) whole milk
1 egg
1 onion, finely diced
15 black peppercorns
3 grains of allspice
½ teaspoon of cumin seeds
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
30 mint leaves
1 garlic clove
1 and 3/4 level teaspoons salt
For the mint yogurt dip
200g (¾ cup) Greek yogurt
40ml olive oil
salt, pepper, garlic, vinegar, finely diced mint, to taste
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 180 Deg C
- Crush the black peppercorns, all spice cumin and mustard seeds using a mortar and pestle
- Finely dice the onion
- Finley dice the mint leaves
- Place the ground beef and pork in a bowl, and add the crushed spice mix, the diced onion, mint, bread crumbs, whole egg and crushed garlic clove and milk to the mixture.
- Season with salt and pepper
- Kneed the mixture until uniform, and create little meatballs with your hands
- Place the meatballs on a baking tray covered in parchment paper
- Baste the meatballs with some water and place in the over for 18-20 minutes. Turn the meatballs half-way through
Yoghurt Dip
- Add the diced mint, olive oil, crushed garlic to the yoghurt.
- Season to taste, and mix really well.
