At our home, we grew up eating albondigas, our Mexican version of meatballs. As we grew older, we learned that there was a big difference between the American meatball and the Mexican albondiga and quite frankly, nothing says home-cooked meal like a warm bowl of albondigas and tomato broth.
Mexican albondigas have the same shape as meatballs, except they have a thicker consistency because they are filled with rice, carrots, onions, and other spices that make them quite tasty. Some people even add half a boiled egg to make them even more hearty or add zucchini, potatoes, and carrots to the broth as seen in the picture above. The American meatball consists of spices and a thick tomato sauce, so you get a light meatball with a thick sauce, which is the opposite of the albondiga since it has a thick meatball with a light sauce.
Mexican Albondigas
Ingredients
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/2 cup short-grain rice
- 1 cups chopped onion, divided
- 1 cup of bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 1/2 pound lean ground pork
- 1/2 pound ground sirloin
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 cup chopped carrot
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 tomatillos minced
- 1 cup chopped seeded peeled tomato (about 8 ounces)
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
In a blender add the tomato, onion, and garlic and blend until smooth. Then place it in a pot and let it simmer along with the chicken broth. Make sure you do this before you do the meatballs.
For the meatballs, place the ground sirloin and ground pork in a large mixing bowl. Add the chopped carrots, tomatillo, bread crumbs, cilantro, egg whites, onion, raw rice, fresh mint, and season with salt and pepper. Mix ingredients well with your hands. Then grab your mixture and start forming the meatballs by rolling them in your hands until they have a good round shape. Make sure they’re all about the same size, that way they cook evenly.
Once you’re done rolling your meatballs, place them one by one inside the simmering sauce. Don’t drop them all at once because they might stick together. Cover them until they are cooked all the way through, normally they will take about 20-30 minutes. Add salt and pepper as needed. Serve warm and enjoy!