Cyprus Grilled Minced Meat Rolls Sieftalies Recipes

ROMANIAN GRILLED MINCED MEAT ROLLS

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, mix together the ground beef, suet, baking soda, caraway seeds, garlic, salt, pepper and juniper berries using your hands. Mix with your hands for about 15 minutes, adding a little bit of the water at a time. This part can be made a few hours ahead of time if you like.
• Preheat a grill for high heat. With wet hands form the meat into rolls about 3 inches long and 1 inch thick. Brush lightly with oil.
• Grill the meat for 5 to 10 minutes, basting frequently with a mixture of beef broth and any remaining oil, until well done.

CYPRUS - GRILLED MINCED MEAT ROLLS - SIEFTALIES

Steps:

• Wash the net fat very well and then rinse with a mixture of vinegar and water. Mix well the minced meat, onion, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper kneed all this together until well combined. Cut the net fat into square pieces and put 1 tablespoon of the meat mixture on each piece. Close the two edges and roll, they will look like tiny cabbage rolls. Cook sieftalia over glowing coals on a bbq or under grill and turn to brown on both sides. This makes about 30 sieftalia.
• We typically serve this with pita bread, a nice salad and often tzatziki on the side also, or just plain balkan style yogurt.
• Note: Seftalia will be soft if the mince meat contains a bit of fat, preferably lam.
• They should fit nicely in the palm of your hand when you are rolling them up, they are small oval meatballs almost with a cover on them.

UNBELIEVABLE ROLLS

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan over medium heat, warm milk, water, sugar and salt. Remove from heat, and mix in the eggs and yeast.
• Measure flour into a large bowl. Make a well in the flour, and pour milk mixture into it. Do not stir. Cover with a lid, and let stand for 20 to 30 minutes.
• Pour melted margarine into flour, and mix well. Add more flour if too sticky. Knead lightly. Cover, and let rise for 20 to 30 minutes.
• Shape the dough into rolls, and place on a baking sheet. Let rise again for 20 to 30 minutes.
• Bake rolls in a preheated 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) oven for 15 minutes, or until done.

KARELIAN LANTTUKUKKO (FINNISH MEAT AND RUTABAGA PIE)

Steps:

• Combine yeast and warm water, stirring to dissolve yeast, then combine with enough of the rye flour for the consistence of porridge; cover loosely and set aside for one hour.
• Meanwhile, peel and slice the rutabaga and cook in salted water until soft, about 20 minutes.
• Once the yeast has been activated, stir in enough all purpose flour to form a dough (the dough will leave the sides of the bowl); cover with a clean towel and set aside to rise for 1 hour.
• Add a small amount of oil to a skillet and fry the meat, onion, salt and pepper, and chopped parsley; remove from heat once the onions begin to caramelize and are a light golden.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• After an hour the dough should have doubled in size; turn out onto a work surface dusted with rye flour.
• Knead dough; roll out dough to either a square shape or circular shape to be stuffed with the rutabagas and meat mixture.
• To the dough, place a layer of rutabaga, then meat.
• Fold over the sides to cover filling and seal.
• Transfer to a greased baking sheet and bake until crust is golden and filling is cooked through, about 1 hour.
• Brush the top with butter and let cool slightly before slicing.
• NOTE: The original recipe called for the pie to be wrapped in grease-proof paper, then newspaper, then a plastic bag. It was allowed to rest, at room temperature, for 3 hours to soften.

GREEK-STYLE PORK GYROS PLATE

Steps:

• Remove the skin from the pork strips.
• In a bowl turn the pork strips in garlic, oregano and a good twist of black pepper - leave to marinade for at least 30 minutes (more if possible).
• Griddle the meat - I used our George Formby "turned out nice again" grill (a wee joke for any ageing brits there). A lot of fat will drain off, the meat needs turning so all sides are well browned and the meat succulent.
• Slice across the strips to give chunks of meat ready to serve.
• Brush the pitas with a little oil and cook in a hot dry non stick frying pan for a couple of minutes each side.
• Assemble to serve: place a good quantity of the meat chunks on a piece of the bread, (a couple of tomato slices would work well here) top with a good dollop of the tzatziki, a good quantity of the thinly sliced red onion and put mustard on the side.
• Serve with chips/fries.
• A little salad garnish is pretty with this, as you can see from my photo, it can look a bit too all-brown.
• Kali orexi! (Bon appetit).

BITKY (RUSSIAN MINCED MEAT PATTIES)

Steps:

• Soak the bread in the milk for 30 minutes and then squeeze out the excess milk: Mix the bread with the ground beef, finely chopped onion, egg, salt & pepper until all is well blended together. Form the mixture into small balls. Push a bit of butter into the center of each ball and press each into round, flat cakes. Roll each small cake in bread crumbs and fry in butter over low heat in a covered pan for 5 minutes on each side. When the Bitky are all fried, remove them from the pan and pour the sour cream into the pan, mixing it in well. Heat this up for 5 minutes or so, pour over the Bitky and serve.