Smyrna meatballs

Smyrna meatballs
Alternative names İzmir köfte
Type Stew
Place of origin Turkey
Region or state İzmir
Main ingredients Minced meat (usually beef), bread crumbs, egg, garlic, and parsley, and generously spiced with cumin, cinnamon, salt, and pepper.
Variations Ciorbă de perişoare, Sulu köfte, Yuvarlak, Tabriz meatballs
Cookbook: Smyrna meatballs  Media: Smyrna meatballs

Soutzoukakia (smyrneika/politika) (Greek: σουτζουκάκια (σμυρνέικα/πολίτικα)) or İzmir köfte is a Greek and Turkish dish of spicy oblong kofte with cumin, cinnamon, and garlic served in tomato sauce.

Soutzoukakia are generally served with pilaf or mashed potatoes. This dish was brought to Greece by refugees from Asia Minor.

The meatballs are made with minced meat (usually beef, or a mixture of beef and pork), bread crumbs, egg, garlic, and parsley, and generously spiced with cumin, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. They are floured before being fried in olive oil. The tomato sauce has tomato, wine, onion, garlic, a bayleaf, salt and pepper, and olive oil.

Name

The Turkish name İzmir köfte means köfte from İzmir (the former Smyrna).

The Greek name σουτζουκάκια σμυρνέικα/πολίτικα means spicy little sausages (Turkish sucuk + Greek diminutive -άκι) from Smyrna/Constantinople. Soutzoukakia can sometimes refer to the same cylindrical meatballs when grilled (like kofte kebab) rather than served in sauce.

See also

External links

"Soutzoukakia Smyrneika". www.IriSpiti.it - Italian Blog with Italian Greek Recipes. Irini. 

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, May 01, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.