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Greek Meatball Soup (Youvarlakia)

9/17/2017

6 Comments

 
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Beginner Cook - Medium Cooking Time - Soup - Gluten-Free
Traditionally served with "avgolemono" or egg-lemon sauce, our family's Greek meatball recipe is slightly lighter, forgoing the egg and served instead in a clear lemony broth. Introduced to this version by my mother-in-law several years ago, it remains my favorite due to the broth, which reminds me of the beloved chicken noodle soup of my childhood. The ingredients are the same as those used to prepare stuffed grape and cabbage leaves. This lead my mother-in-law to lovingly refer to the dish as "orphan soup", when first asked about it. Inquiring why it was named as such, she smiled and simply replied that the meatball stuffing was left without a home, unlike those wrapped snuggly in grape and cabbage leaves. Even now I get warm and fuzzy when dropping each little ball into the boiling water, imagining that I'm giving it a home of its own in this comforting soup.  

Ingredients (Serves 4)
  • ​1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1/2 cup medium grain rice
  • 1 small red onion
  • 2 lemons
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 teaspoons dried dill
  • 1 cup water (to make the meatballs)
  • 5-8 cups water for the broth

Time - 60 minutes
  • Preparation - 20 minutes
  • Cooking - 40 minutes

Preparation
  • In a medium size pot, bring 5-8 cups of water to a boil (you'll want enough water to cover all of the meatballs)
  • Peel and grate the onion using a grater or food processor
  • In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, rice, grated onion, olive oil, salt, dill, and cup of water
  • Once the water in the pot reaches a boil, using spoons or your hands, shape the rice and beef mixture into small balls about the size of a golf ball
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  • Once formed, drop the uncooked meatball into the boiling water, repeating the process until all of the beef and rice mixture has been formed into balls and added to the pot
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  • Reduce to a simmer and cook for 40 minutes until the meatballs are fully cooked
  • Add the juice of two squeezed lemons to the broth
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  • Sprinkle with some chopped fresh dill and serve with a few slices of lemon on the side for those that wish to add more lemony flavor to the soup
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6 Comments
Leslie
11/28/2017 10:34:54 pm

A friend of mine posted on Facebook that he was eating this soup. It looked so good, I had to find the recipe!

Reply
The Olive and The Sea link
1/1/2018 10:48:53 am

Wonderful! I hope you enjoy it!

Reply
Maria
8/26/2018 09:38:17 am

Wow have to try this ! My kind of meal.. healthy pure clean and yet rich and comforting ! How lean do you use live 8 percent fat or 15 ? Also do you ever add any vegetables to broth like carrot onion or zuccini celery etc ?Will be making this week

Reply
The Olive and The Sea link
8/28/2018 07:59:30 am

Hi Maria! I use a 15 percent fat ground beef but think an 8 percent is fine as well. I've never added vegetables to the broth for this soup but think it would be delicious, similar to the broth in the Greek Lenten Seafood Soup (also included on the blog). Happy cooking! : )

Reply
Samuel
3/1/2020 11:14:41 am

Just found this great blog ! Regarding this soup is one cup water sufficient for cooking the meatballs ,, don’t they need to be submerged and won’t we be left with no broth after cooking tine ?

Reply
The Olive and The Sea link
3/1/2020 01:09:25 pm

Hi Samuel - Great point! Yes, you will need 1 cup of water to make the meatballs and an additional 5-8 cups of water for the broth. I have updated the ingredient list to clarify this point. Thanks and happy cooking!

Reply



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