Cypriot Meatball Soup (Yourvarlakia Avgolemono) (Gluten Free)

UmmBinat's Note:

A lovely soup from The Complete Middle East Cookbook by Tess Mallos

• Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Serves: 6

Yield: 6.0

• 1 lb ground beef (or lamb)
• 1 small onion , finely chopped
• 3 eggs
• 1⁄3; cup short-grain rice
• 4 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped mint
• salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• ¼ cup rice flour (to be gluten free)
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 lemon, juice of

Directions:

1. Beat 1 egg and mix it with the ground meat, onion, rice, 2 tbs parsley, mint, & salt & pepper to taste.
2. Shape into meatballs the size of a small walnut and coat lightly with rice flour.
3. Bring stock to a boil in a soup pot & drop in prepared meatballs; add the butter.
4. Cover and simmer gently for 1 hour.
5. In a bowl beat remaining two eggs until light and foamy.
6. Gradually beat in lemon juice.
7. Slowly add about 2 cups of the simmering stock, beating constantly.
8. Pour the egg mixture into the soup and stir lightly but constantly for two minutes to cook the egg.
9. Remove from heat and stir for a further minute so the heat of the pot will not cause the egg to curdle.
10. Ladle soup into soup plates and sprinkle with a little chopped parsley.
11. Serve with crusty bread.

Reviews

[misslisam_11264496]

Tess Mallos' cookbook was one of the first I bought as a young bride in the early 80s, so I was delighted to see this recipe here. I have made it many, many times and it's one of my favorites! I'm vegetarian now, but adapted the recipe using Gimme Lean soy burger and it works really well. And I use raw rice. The kids call it "You'd better like it or I'll kill you" as that's what the name sounds like to them.

[~Nimz~]

This was a great tasting soup. I loved the hint of the lemon and mint. I didn't have fresh mint so used about 1/2 tsp dried. I didn't cook my rice ahead of time, just added uncooked to the meatball mixture. Not sure that was what I was suppose to do, but it seemed to work well for me. Some of my meatballs fell apart during the simmering stage also. I will make this soup again. Thanks UmmBinat for sharing. Made for the Diabetic Forum Special :)

[Az G]

This was a great soup! I forgot the mint, but loved it anyways!