This delicious soup with the little meatballs and avgolemono (egg and lemon sauce) is common in Greece, Cyprus and Turkey.
The word literally means “round” in Turkish (yuvarlak). But I was curious to the similarity of varelaki the Greek word for “barrel” and in more searching I found that in Turkish varil means barrel which sounds suspiciously like the Greek vareli showing once more the way the cultures are intertwined through language, food, music and more.
Youvarlakia are easy to make and are loved by all, nutritious healthy and very economical. In some regions of Greece they are made with tomatoes and not with avgolemono but I have to say that nothing beats the avgolemono version.
Ingredients for the meatballs
500 grams of lean beef mince
1 medium onion grated
1/4 cup of Arborio rice
1/4 olive oil
3 tablespoons of very finely chopped dill
3 tablespoons of very finely chopped parsley
1 level teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Some flour to roll the balls in
Method
1. In a bowl put all ingredients in except the flour and mix well
2. Make in to small balls and roll into the flour and set aside
Ingredients for soup
1 tablespoon of good butter
6 cups of water
Method
1. In a large saucepan put the water and the butter and bring to the boil
2. Place all the meat balls in and turn the heat down to very low and simmer for at least an hour
Ingredients for avgolemono
2 eggs separated
2 lemons squeezed and the pips taken out
Method
NOTE: Its important that the directions for the avgolemono are flowed strictly otherwise the egg can curdle or you could end up having scrambled egg floating on your soup
1. Beat the egg whites till they form peaks
2. Add the egg yolks and beat till blended well
3. Add the lemon juice gradually while beating
4. While the soup is till simmering take small amounts of very hot soup and add to the egg mixture gradually while beating all the time, do this till bowl is full. This heats the egg mixture slowly before pouring into soup
5. Add the egg mixture into the soup stirring constantly while its simmering for at least 5 – 8 minutes till the avgolemono sauce becomes one with the soup.
NOTE: If this done carefully the soup can be reheated the next day safely and without scrambling the eggs.
Kali Orexi!
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