Greek Keftedes

Method

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1. Tear the bread into a bowl, pour over the wine, and leave 10 minutes. Squeeze it out hard and crumble it.

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2. Grate the onion and squeeze it in a cloth — onion juice makes the mixture too wet to shape.

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3. Combine both minces with the squeezed bread, onion, garlic, egg, herbs, cumin, salt, pepper and vinegar.

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4. Mix with your hands for 3 minutes until it becomes noticeably sticky and cohesive.

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5. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.

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6. Roll into 30 walnut-sized balls, then flatten each very slightly.

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7. Roll each in flour and tap off the excess.

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8. Heat 1 cm of olive oil in a frying pan to about 180°C / 350°F and fry in batches of eight for 6 to 7 minutes, turning, until deeply browned all over and cooked through.

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9. Drain on a rack and serve hot or at room temperature with lemon wedges.

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Chef’s Tips

• Squeeze both the bread and the onion. Wet mixture gives meatballs that spread and steam rather than brown.
• Mint is not optional. It is the defining flavour of keftedes.
• They are excellent cold the next day, stuffed into pitta with tzatziki.

Common Substitutions & Variations

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the usual stand-in when you are out of fresh garlic — it will not caramelise the same way, but it carries the flavour.
• Fresh herbs work in place of the dried oregano at roughly three times the quantity — a teaspoon of dried is about a tablespoon of fresh, chopped.

Pairing Suggestions

• Tzatziki and warm pitta
• A Greek salad
• Ouzo with ice, or a cold beer

Storage & Reheating

Refrigerate up to 4 days and freeze 3 months. Reheat at 180°C / 350°F for 10 minutes.

Common questions

Nutritional Highlights

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list. Treat these as an estimate — brands and cuts vary.