Greek Recipes with May Lerios: Keftethes

A kefte is one of the meatballs you'll make; the plural is keftethes. The Greek word is actually a derivative of the Turkish word köfte, which means meatball.

For 4 people

(Click on the thumbnail for a larger photo)

Mix in a large bowl:

1 lb of ground pork or minced beef, or a mix of the two,
4 slices of French Biscottes (or 2 slices of toasted sliced white bread; or 12 slices of round Melba toast; or 9 slices of rectangular Melba toast), soaked in water first, and then drained,
1 egg,
half a medium-sized onion, very finely chopped,
1 tbsp dried mint,
1 tbsp dried oregano, and
1 tsp dried parsley.

Form small round balls out of the mixture, each the size of a large walnut. In a pot, heat in hi heat until it's very hot

2 cups vegetable oil; or enough to get a height of 3/4''.

Fry the meatballs in this pot until their surface is a dark brown (almost burned); you'll need at most 5 minutes per ball. Deposit the fried balls in a bowl lined with paper towels so that the towels may absord some of the oil.

Serve hot with potato chips or french fries (you can use the pot in which you just fried the keftethes to make the fries), and a side of tzatziki for dipping. You can also enjoy them cold.

(Click on the thumbnail for a larger photo)
The mixture and the balls before frying.

Variations

The above recipe can be modified in (at least) the following ways:

You can use the keftethes as meatballs in a tomato sauce, and serve over pasta.
You can make a handful of large, hamburger-sized patties, which you can then grill or fry. You can then serve them in the traditional bun, or in an open-faced sandwich with a fried egg on top.
You can combine the keftethes with pita bread, tzatziki, and other ingredients to make stuffed pitas.