Method

• 1.
  Put the tomatoes into a large bowl, roll up your sleeves and crush them in the bowl by hand. You want to see the juice pop from inside the tomatoes. Add the red onions and mix in by hand, followed by the chopped spearmint leaves. Mix in the basil, 2 tsp fine salt and 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper by hand. Once everything is combined, pour in 300ml water, followed by the flour. Mix by hand until the flour becomes wet and combines with the tomato mixture.
• 2.
  Heat the sunflower oil in a dry, non-stick, deep frying pan over a high heat for 1 minute or so until you can drop a tiny amount of your mix into the oil and it begins to rapidly sizzle. Drop a level tbs of the tomato mixture into the hot oil. It doesn’t need to be a perfect shape – yiayiades care about flavour.
• 3.
  Cook 3 or 4 tomatokeftedes at a time, depending on how many tbs of mixture can fit into your pan. You want space between each one so that they don’t stick together and become a clump. Fry for 2-3 minutes on one side, then use a spoon to lift from the underside and turn the tomatokeftedes over and fry for a further 1-2 minutes until they are crisp and reddish-brown all over. The frying time will become faster as the oil heats up, so check the undersides to ensure they aren’t burning.
• 4.
  Remove tomatokeftedes with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Serve with Greek yoghurt and dill for dipping.