Tomatokeftedes (Fried Santorini tomato balls / tomato fritters)

Tomatokeftedes (Fried Santorini tomato balls / tomato fritters)

Bring back memories from your Greek island holidays with this delicious Greek ouzo meze from the island of Santorini! Santorini’s local cherry tomatoes are blessed with an amazing texture due to the volcanic nature of the soil, which is full of minerals and nutrients. It is no surprise that the locals cherish their locally produced tomatoes, making the very best tomato balls!

Tomatokeftedes are usually served as part of a meze platter, together with some chickpea fritters (revithokeftedes), hummus, tzatziki or vegan tzatziki saucetaramasalata, Skordalia, melitzanosalata (aubergine dip), tirokafteri (spicy feta cheese dip), fava (Yellow Split Peas Puree) and some delicious beef meatballs and lamb meatballs. Of course also by themseves, with warm crusted bread or pita bread. Or serve this as a side to my delicious moussaka or vegan moussaka with lentils dishes!

If you are contemplating of visiting Santorini for this year’s Greek island holidays, then you must try out this amazing, tasty and extra flavoursome dish. 

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Tomatokeftedes (Fried Santorini tomato balls / tomato fritters)

Tomatokeftedes (Fried Santorini tomato balls / tomato fritters)

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  • Author: Eli K. Giannopoulos
  • Prep Time: 10 min
  • Cook Time: 20 min
  • Total Time: 30 min
  • Yield: 6 tomato balls 1x
  • Category: Appetizer
  • Method: Fried
  • Cuisine: Greek
  • Diet: Vegetarian

Description

Looking for an authentic Greek tomatokeftedes recipe? Bring back memories from Greek island holidays with these Santorini tomato balls (tomato fritters)!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 200 grams of tomatoes, finely chopped. Ideally use vine ripened tomatoes to get maximum flavour
  • 200 grams of tomatoes, grated
  • 200 grams of feta cheese, smashed (3.5 ounces)
  • 1/2 of a cup red onion (1 large onion), grated
  • 2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
  • 10 spearmint leaves, finely chopped
  • 67 basil leaves, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 cup flour (or slightly more if the mixture is too loose)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • salt and freshly ground paper
  • 1 egg
  • oil for frying


Instructions

  1. Cut the tomatoes into 4 pieces, and with a spoon remove the flesh. Chop the flesh of the tomatoes, into small cubes, place in a colander, strain them and add sprinkle of salt. Add the grated tomatoes and mix together. Leave them for 30 minutes.
  2. Into a bowl, combine the chopped tomatoes, the onions, the egg and mix with a spoon; add the herbs, and the feta cheese, smashed with a fork. In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder.
  3. Add the four mixture to the tomato mixture, whilst stirring with a spoon, until the ingredients are combined and the mixture is firm enough to make the balls. Add a little more flour if needed. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  4. In a pan add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan, and heat the oil into medium-high heat. Dip a tablespoon in some water and spoon out some of the mixture into the hot oil. Repeat this procedure until the surface off the pan is comfortably filled. You should dip the spoon in the water every time, so that the dough doesn’t stick on it. Fry the tomatokeftedes for about 2-3 minutes on each side, until nicely colored. Place them on paper towel, to absorb the extra olive oil.
  5. Enjoy this very best Greek island recipe with some crusted bread, yogurt and a sip of ouzo!


Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 fritter
  • Calories: 125 kcal
  • Sugar: 3.4g
  • Sodium: 547.4mg
  • Fat: 6.2g
  • Saturated Fat: 2.9g
  • Unsaturated Fat: 3.0g
  • Trans Fat: 0g
  • Carbohydrates: 14.1g
  • Fiber: 1.7g
  • Protein: 4.4g
  • Cholesterol: 14.8mg

Keywords: Tomatokeftedes, Greek tomato balls, Santorini tomato fritters

Recipe image gallery:


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5 Comments

  1. Can you prepare all of the ingredients ahead of time and fry later?

  2. The recipe is missing one key ingredient, an egg. Add just one and it’s perfect.

  3. Michael Ybarzabal

    This recipe is fantastic! The whole family enjoyed. I messed up and put baking soda instead of baking powder, which I think is the reason the mixture came out too dry, so I juiced a whole lemon into it. having some more tartness to the mix seemed like a good addition for my palette

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