Romanian Cevapcici or Mititei

           Romanian Cevapcici or Mititei 

This sausage without a casing is popular throughout the Balkan and Turkey. In Turkey they call it Koefta, in the Jugoslavia's they call it Cevapcici and in Romania they call it Mititei or short Mici. I seriously love this dish. you can eat it with Polenta, homemade fries (I prefer this) or just store bought fries or plain with bread. Anyway, here it is.

This is what you need for the spice mix:

for 2 lbs of meat:

- 22 gr salt

- 2 TBSP sweet Paprika powder

- 1 TBSP dried Thyme

- 2 TSP Pepper corn

- 10 Allspice

- 1 TSP ground Coriander

- 1 TSP Cumin Seeds

Add all corns/seeds and Thyme in a Coffee Grinder and grind it very fine.

- 1 TSP Baking Soda

- 2 TSP ground Garlic (or 6-7 big gloves of Garlic or 10 small ones)

- Beer of your choice

This is what you also need:

- 2 lbs of ground meat (just beef, beef/pork mix or beef/pork/lamb mix) (I prefer beef)

- Oil to pan fry or you can grill them too

This is how you do it:

Add all spices and at least half a bottle of beer into the meat and mix it well. Let it sit for at least 30 min so it can develop the flavors. I use a big zip lock bag to store it in the fridge and then I cut off one corner of it big enough that I can squeeze the meat out. So you get around same size sausages. Squeeze out around 3-4 inches, they will shrink unfortunately. I wet my hands and form the ends a big after squeezing them out of the plastic bag. Wet hands prevent the fat sticking on your hands and helps giving it a nice finish. Now pan fry or grill them until they are done. Sear hot on all sides and then let it sit on low heat until they are cooked through. 

I prefer to make my own french fries with it. I prefer that fries over store bought anyway. You always have fresh Potatoes at home (at least I do)

Enjoy and guten Appetit or in Romanian: Pofta buna