Oblong cumin-and-garlic beef kofta brought to Greece by refugees from Smyrna in 1922, briefly fried then simmered in a red-wine tomato sauce. They straddle the line between kebab and stew and are almost always served over rice or fries.
Also known as: soutzoukakia smyrneika, σουτζουκάκια, sutzukakia, Smyrna meatballs, Izmir kofte
Watch it made
Ingredients
- 500 g beef mince
- 60 g stale bread, crusts removed
- 80 ml dry red wine, divided
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1.5 tsp ground cumin
- 1 egg
- Flour, for dusting
- 700 g tomato passata, 1 tsp sugar, 1 bay leaf
- 60 ml olive oil plus 20 g butter
- Salt and pepper
How to make it
- 1
Soak the bread in 50 ml of the red wine, squeeze lightly, and knead with the mince, garlic, cumin, egg, salt and pepper.
- 2
Form oblong torpedoes, dust with flour, and fry in olive oil until browned on all sides but not cooked through.
- 3
In the same pan, simmer the passata with the remaining wine, sugar, bay and a little salt for 10 minutes.
- 4
Nestle the soutzoukakia in and cook gently 20 minutes, turning once, until the sauce thickens around them.
- 5
Melt in the butter at the end and serve over rice or fried potatoes.
Pro tip: Wine-soaked bread, never milk-soaked, is the Smyrna signature that dates to 1922: the crumb carries the wine's perfume into the meat and marks these apart from every other tomato meatball in Greece.
