Greek Salad With Rice And Meatballs - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 cup long-grain rice
1 lb ground beef or pork
1 None small onion, peeled and finely chopped
6 tbsp fresh thyme, little set aside for garnish, remainder finely chopped
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 None egg, beaten
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp oil
2 1/2 cups Greek yogurt
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
15 large pitted black olives
15 large pimento-stuffed green olives
1 None yellow bell pepper, deseeded and cut into strips
1 None cucumber, thinly sliced
1 3/4 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Preparation

Cook the rice in boiling salted water for 20 mins. Drain, rinse with cold water and allow to cool.
Mix the ground beef or pork, onion, thyme, breadcrumbs, egg and tomato puree and knead into a ball. Season with salt and white pepper and form into small balls. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the meatballs, turning frequently, for 8-10 mins, until browned all over. Remove from the pan and allow to cool.
Mix the yogurt and garlic and season with salt and white pepper. In a large serving bowl, mix the rice, meatballs, olives, pepper, cucumber, tomatoes and parsley. Drizzle with the yogurt dressing and garnish with the reserved thyme.