Giouvarlakia with tomato sauce

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Make sure to try this giouvarlakia with tomato sauce! I promise you will absolutely love it!

It’s been a long time since I shared a recipe, and you have no idea how much I missed it. I didn’t quite expect how crazy a pandemic can be! Covid-19 hit us hard, and between working from home, homeschooling my two daughters, cooking, cleaning, and staying safe and sane! Blogging was not on the agenda, unfortunately.

The blog was constantly on my mind, though. I have always wanted to make this a better experience for all the lovely people who read and try my recipes! So, as you can see, I have updated the look and made the blog (with the help of a WordPress guru #notme) more user-friendly. When you subscribe to my newsletter, you can also receive my ebook for free! I would love to hear what you think of the updated look.

This food is pure comfort.

After this almost year-long break, our first recipe is giouvarlakia. But not just your standard, typical avgolemono giouvarlakia greek soup (lemon and egg sauce). No! I thought we could rock the boat and share a very child-friendly tomato sauce, giouvarlakia. This food is pure comfort.

I remember the first time I made this for my kids; it was when my youngest, Gigi, wasn’t really into eating meat which I was okay with (I was offering her lamb instead, haha #mybigfatgreekwedding. Still, one day, I just cooked this giouvarlakia with tomato sauce, and she absolutely loved it! She even asked for seconds.

Easy recipe, anyone?

This recipe is basically a one-bowl recipe, where you combine all the ingredients. Mix them well and then shape them into a small ball. Giouvarlakia avgolemono and tomato sauce need to be small in size because of the rice. After you cook them, the rice doubles in size, so you get a normal size meatball. If, however, they are medium or large size, then you will end up with massive giouvarlakia. Let me tell you, I’ve been there, and they are not the easiest to serve.

Giouvarlakia with tomato sauce is a recipe you need to try. I would love to hear back from you with any questions and feedback. Please see the giouvarlakia recipe/ giouvarlakia sintagi below.

Giouvarlakia with tomato sauce

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Serves: 4 Prep Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 40 minutes 40 minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 4.0/5

( 7 voted )

Ingredients

• For the tomato sauce
• 400 gr tomato passata
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 2 medium potatoes, cut in 4
• salt
• pepper
• fresh or dried dill
• For the giouvarlakia
• 500gr pork minced meat
• 30 gr long grain rice
• 1 tbsp chopped dill
• 1 egg
• 1 carrot, finely shredded
• 1 onion, finely shredded
• salt
• pepper

Instructions

Step 1

In a bowl, add all the ingredients for the giouvarlakia in a big bowl. Mix well until all the ingredients are nicely incorporated.

Step 2

Prepare the tomato sauce. In a big casserole, add the olive oil and onion. Cook on low heat until the onion becomes translucent. Add the chopped carrot, potato, passata, salt, pepper, dill, and half a cup of water. Let it cook for about 10 minutes.

Step 3

Shape the giouvarlakia while the sauce is cooking and after the sauce is ready, add them to the casserole too. Cover with water and let them cook for about 40 minutes with the lid on low heat. Make sure to check them now and then but make sure not to stir them with a spoon. Instead, pick up the casserole and swirl it around a bit gently.

Step 4

Remove the lid and check the sauce. If the sauce is still quite watery, let it cook a bit more with the lid off until the sauce is quite saucy.

Notes

Serve this with warm, crusty bread and some feta cheese. You can substitute the pork minced meat with lamb or beef. If you are not a fan of fresh dill, you can always substitute it with dried dill and the dill flavor will be a lot more toned down.