My trip to south Texas visiting family was always filled with love, laughter and oh yeah...lots of good home cooked food! Especially when my sister in law would call us over to her place for a "simple" lunch as she would put it. Yum yum and yum!! I would be shocked at the caliber of meals that she served us. It looked like she has been slaving all day preparing a table full of amazing dishes for us. Yet she would walk out of the kitchen looking real cute and always smiling,..as if she had little elves helping her do all that work! lol
I have taken Angie's Albondigas recipe and tweak it a little. It's usually prepared by cooking the meatball in the soup. This is a dish you would have to eat immediately. Otherwise these tasty meatballs would fall apart. Its binding agent consists of the starch from the rice and the raw egg, which gives the meatball that delicious hearty bite. Unfortunately it doesn't hold the meat together longer than the few stir made while looking for those yummy puppies.
I decided to bake the meatballs before you slip them in the soup, for a simple fact we do not necessarily eat this dish as soon as it's done. It would drive me nuts watching my meatballs fall apart if a family member is not home in time to consume them! lol. But if you want to enjoy them the way it was originally made then skip the baking and cook the meatballs in the soup. Either way you are in for a treat!
Ingredients
1/4 cup fresh spearmint
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
a dash of cayenne or 1/2 tsp crushed red peppers (more if you like heat)
1 small onion
3 cloves of garlic
salt to taste
1/2 cup of cooked white rice
1 pound of ground beef
1 raw egg
Place all ingredients in a food processor except the meat, rice and raw egg. Give it a few pulse. You don't want it too fine where you can't see all the beautiful herbs and spices you've added. You could also do this by hand with a kitchen knife, and coarsely chop everything.
Pour chopped ingredients into a bowl and mix well with cooked rice, meat and egg.
Scoop mixed meat with an ice cream scoop and place meatballs on a baking sheet. You could do this by hand as well, but I love having all my meatball looking uniform. It's part of my OCD ruling my kitchen habits. ;)
Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes
Now you could put these delicious meatballs into any soup of your choice.
Or you could make your own quick soup by sauteing onions, garlic, tomatoes, carrots and potatoes in some vegetable or olive oil. Seasoned with salt and pepper. Then pour in broth of your choice. Let it boil and slowly slip in your delicious Mexican meatballs. Sprinkle some cilantro.
Serve and enjoy!
And don't forget to squeeze some of that lime juice in your bowl! It truly does make a difference. :)