Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Dish: Greek Cypriot Keftedes Recipe
We love sports, playing and watching, we are looking forward to the Commonwealth Games this summer. As you are aware the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games has started this week, the opening ceremony was beautiful.
The Commonwealth Games are running from 23rd July until 3rd August, with over 6,500 athletes and officials from over 70 countries.
They are competing in 17 different sports, such as athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, diving, gymnastics, hockey, judo, lawn bowls, netball, rugby, shooting, squash, swimming, table tennis, triathlon, weightlifting, and freestyle wrestling.
Hubby is originally from Cyprus, so we are celebrating the start of the Commonwealth Games with a traditional Cypriot Recipe: Keftedes, greek meatballs, full of herbs and flavour.
It is very easy to make by mixing the ingredients, shaping into balls and shallow frying until cooked. My mother in law was born in a village in Cyprus and she used to roll them in oval shape, instead of round balls, so we recreated the traditional village shape.
Although keftedes are traditionally fried, I made them using our De’Longhi Multifry, low-oil air fryer and multicooker. By using the multifry, I didn’t need to add any oil to the meatballs, making them into a much healthier dish.
Keftedes can be served as part of a meze, as a snack or main meal. Hubby particularly enjoy his keftedes with Greek style yogurt and pourgouri. I like keftedes in pitta bread with Greek style yogurt and salad – yum!
- 600g ground pork meat
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 100g fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1 cup of breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Oil for frying
- Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Alternatively, you can add the parsley, onion and spices to a food processor, before adding to the mince meat, breadcrumbs and eggs.
- Add about an inch of the oil to a frying pan and heat. Form small balls with the mixture and fry in batches of 5-6 at the time, depending on the size of the frying pan.
- Fry the meatballs for a few minutes on one side, then roll over and fry the other side.
- Remove when browned all over and add to kitchen paper covered bowl to soak up the excess oil.
- Alternatively, you can cook the meatballs in a multifry, like we did.