European Appetizer Meatballs

These European Appetizer Meatballs are popular in Eastern Europe. In Romania they are known as “chiftele” and there is literally no Christmas, New Year’s Eve or party without these meatballs served as an appetizer. Nothing beats the taste of these meatballs! We love using ground pork but other people use a mix of pork and beef or just beef. Personally, I think they are much tastier and flavourful with pork.

Ingredients (100 meatballs)

1.35 kg (3 lbs) ground pork
200 g bread
2 tsp sweet paprika
2.5 tsp dried thyme
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 large red onion
a handful of fresh dill and parsley, chopped finely (~ 70 g)
2 eggs
salt & pepper
oil for frying

Directions

Soak the bread in cold water for 2 minutes. Squeeze out the excess water and pull the bread apart with your fingers. If your bread has a thick crust, remove it.

Combine all ingredients. Mix well until the mixture holds together.

European Appetizer Meatballs (Chiftele) - Ingredients

Then, take 1 teaspoon of the meat mixture and shape it into a small ball using the palms of your hands. Shape all the meatballs. If you don’t want the mixture to stick to your hands too much, just wet your hands once in a while.

Some people prefer to make them more like patties instead of round and small balls. You can flatten them a bit with your hands if you’d like to make them this way.

Fry the meatballs in hot oil until golden brown. You should have enough oil so your meatballs are almost completely covered.

Remove the meatballs from the oil and drain them on paper towels.

If you don’t like fried food, you can also bake the meatballs. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C), place the meatballs in a pan (leaving 1-2 cm of space in between them), drizzle them with a bit of oil and bake them for about 15-20 minutes, until they start turning golden brown.