ALBONDIGAS Y ARROZ (MEATBALLS AND RICE)

Albondigas y arroz (meatballs and rice) image

My friend Adrianna was over again last night. She taught me how to make traditional Mexican albondigas (meatballs). We served them up with tomato rice in a luscious tomato sauce. All made from scratch of course!

Provided by Torrey Moseley

Categories Beef

Time 1h20m

Number Of Ingredients 28

Ingredients

MEATBALLS
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
3 lg raw eggs
1 cup bread crumbs
2 to 3 hardboiled eggs, chopped
1 cup fresh mint leaves (yerba buena)
3 to 5 cloves garlic
5 whole cloves (1/4 tsp ground)
10 whole peppercorns (1/2 tsp ground)
1/2 tsp salt
good pinch of cumin seeds (1/4 tsp ground)
SAUCE
15 or so roma tomatoes
4 cloves garlic
1 to 2 tsp cumin seeds (or ground cumin)
10 whole peppercorns
5 whole cloves
1 tsp salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup canned chipoltles in adobo (san marcos brand if you can get it)
3 bay leaves
RICE
1 1/2 cups uncooked rice
2 to 4 Tbsp canola oil
4 to 5 roma tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt
water (approx 2 to 2 1/2 cups)

Steps:

1. For meatballs: 1. Grind garlic, mint, cloves, peppercorns, salt and cumin in molcajete to form liquidy paste. If you don't have a molcajete...use a food processor. 2. Place meats in large bowl. Add liquefied herb mixture, raw eggs and bread crumbs. Mix well (come on, use your hands). 3. Grab handful of meat mixture (a little smaller than a baseball). Flatten in hand. 4. Place small amount of chopped hard-boiled egg in center and form ball around chopped egg so that it's in the middle. 5. Slightly brown meatballs in pan with canola oil. Do NOT cook through. They will cook through later when they're in the sauce.
2. For Sauce: 1. In large pot, boil whole tomatoes until skin breaks. Let cool a little and peel off skins. 2. Save out 4 to 5 tomatoes for rice. 3. Remove seeds from chipoltles. 4. Place remaining tomatoes in blender with garlic, cumin, cloves, pepper, salt and chipoltles. Blend until smooth. 5. Pour sauce in large pot. Add bay leaves. Gently place meatballs in sauce making sure all meatballs are covered. 6. Bring to boil on stove, then reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.
3. NOTE: May OMIT chipoltles if you want it less spicy.
4. For Rice: 1. Place rice in skillet with canola oil. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until rice is slightly toasted but not brown. 2. In blender, blend boiled/skinned tomatoes, water, garlic and salt until smooth. 3. Pour over rice in skillet and stir. Bring to boil then cover and reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes until rice is tender. Do NOT stir during cooking process.
5. Plate up rice with a few meatballs, pour sauce over meatballs.