GIOUVARLAKIA OR... GREEK MEATBALL DUMPLING SOUP

The meatball dumplings are made delicious by the addition of rice.

My Goodness, this soup is delicious! It's a popular Greek recipe that we make often; in fall, winter and early spring we have it once a week. And no one gets tired of it! The little meatballs that go in the soup are traditionally made with ground beef, however, we've gotten used to substituting ground turkey for the beef. This makes the soup healthier and also gives it a lighter flavour. Avgolemono (or egg and lemon sauce), is traditionally incorporated into the soup before serving. We do serve the soup with avgolemono on special occasions but for weekly fare, we omit the egg and lemon sauce and instead use only lemon juice.   

Ingredients:

• 1&1/2 pounds of ground turkey 
• 1 onion very finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 egg
• 1teaspoon baking powder
• 2 or 3 dashes of soy sauce
• 1/2 cup rice (Carolina brand or Arborio)
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped dill
• 1 tablespoon chopped mint leaves
• flour for dredging meatballs
• another onion finely chopped
• 2 tablespoon farina
• 1 tablespoon rice
• juice of one large lemon
• 2 cups of low sodium chicken broth 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

1. Mix the first 12 ingredients together.
2. Cover a large tray with flour. Form the meatballs: they should be larger than marbles, smaller than golf balls. Can I be more exact? Place each meatball in the flour and roll it around, covering it with flour.  
3. Fill a large pot with 5 cups of water. Add the chicken broth, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, lemon juice, and a couple of dashes of soy sauce.
4. Bring the liquid to a boil. Once it boils add the farina, the rice, and the chopped onion.
5. Drop the meatball dumplings into the liquid. 
6. Once the liquid comes back to the boil lower the heat to simmer and cover the pot.
7. Cook for about half an hour. The broth will thicken because of the addition of farina and rice. It will have a lemony aroma and taste. The rice in the meatball dumplings will have cooked, and you will see it appear soft and puffed up. At this point, the soup is ready to serve. I hope you enjoy it!