Mexican meatballs are called ‘albondigas’. Albondigas soup is popular in
Mexican meatball soup and the most authentic version contains mint
leaves. If you don’t like mint, you can leave it out of the recipe, but
it really is what the recipe is all about.
This homemade soup calls for salsa, so pick your favorite one; hot,
medium or mild. Also, you may have a choice in the amount of heat for
the ground pork sausage, so again, choose the heat to your liking. If
you like, you can also add to the heat of the soup by adding a can or
tow of diced green chilies, or even a few diced canned jalapenos.
Ingredients:
500 g of fairly lean ground beef, like ground chuck (1 pound)
120 g of ground pork sausage (1/4 pound)
1/2 cup of chopped fresh mint leaves
1 medium white or yellow onion
1 large egg
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of ground black pepper
1/4 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup of cornmeal
2.4 kg of uncondensed beef broth (6 - 14 ounce cans)
250 g of salsa (1 - 8 ounce jar)
1 additional medium white or yellow onion
2 - 410 g cans of peeled and diced tomatoes (2 - 14.5 ounce cans)
1/2 tsp of dried basil
1/2 tsp of dried oregano
1/4 tsp of ground black pepper
90 g of uncooked white rice (1/2 cup)
fresh cilantro for garnish
Procedure:
Peel and chop both onions, but keep them separate. You will need them
at two different points in the recipe. Also, beat the egg. This is best
done with the egg at room temperature. If you would like to use the
cilantro as a garnish, which is highly recommended, go ahead and chop
it, too.
To a large soup pot, add and combine the beef broth, the salsa, the
diced tomatoes, one of the chopped onions, the dried basil and oregano,
and .5 grams of ground pepper (1/4 teaspoon). Bring the ingredients to a
boil then reduce to a simmer for 15 or 20 minutes.
In a mixing bowl, mix together well the ground beef, the ground pork,
the other chopped onion, the beaten egg, the salt and the remaining
pepper, the garlic powder, the milk, the freshly chopped basil, the
freshly chopped mint leaves, and cornmeal. Start grabbing chunks of the
mixture and form them into small bite sized meatballs.
Add the small meatballs to the broth in the soup pot, and add the
uncooked rice. Place the lid on the soup pot and continue to cook the
Mexican meatball and mint soup at a slow simmer for another hour and a
half to two hours. Serve with warm corn tortillas and garnish with fresh
cilantro.
