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Albondigas Recipe
Albóndigas are Spanish or Latin American meatballs. The name is derived from the Arabic al-bunduq (meaning hazelnut, or, by extension, a small round object). Albóndigas are thought to have originated as a Berber or Arab dish imported to Spain during the period of Muslim rule. Spanish albóndigas can be served as an appetizer or main course, often in a tomato sauce, while Mexican albóndigas are commonly served in a soup with a light broth and vegetables.
Below I'll describe both versions of albóndigas recipe - Spanish and Mexican.
Cook Time
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 hour
Ready in: 1 hour 30 min
Yields: 8 portions
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 1.5 L beef broth
- 1.5 L chicken broth
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/4 glass flour
- 1/4 glass rice
- 4 carrots
- potato
- 4 celery
- 2 chili peppers
- 1 pack spinach
- cilantro
- cumin
- oregano
Mexican Albondigas Recipe (Albondigas Soup Recipe)
- Chop medium-sized onion. Save several spoons of chopped onion for later (for meatballs).
- Mince garlic. Save portion of it for later as well.
- Slice celery and carrot.
- Cut peeled potato on cubes (approximately 1 inch each) so that there is approximately 5 glasses of cut potato.
- Chop cilantro (approximately 1/2 glass) and spinach (2.5 glasses).
- Add broth and 3 glasses of water in a big pan.
- Prepare albondigas (meatballs): add broth, flour, rice, chopped onion and minced garlic to ground beef. Add salt, a pinch of oregano and a bit ob ground cumin. Mix everything properly and form meatballs.
- Put meatballs into boiling water and cook on medium fire for 15 minutes.
- In 15 minutes add sliced vegetables and whole chili peppers (don't add spinach and cilantro yet). Cook for 45 minutes.
- 5 minutes before the dish is ready add spinach and cilantro.
- If you don't want the soup to be too spicy, take off chili peppers as soon as the soup is ready.
Ingredients:
- 1 onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 0.5 lbs ground beef
- 1 tbsp chopped oregano and dill
- 1 tsp paprica
- pinch of cumin
- chili
- olive oil
- 2 tomatoes
- 0.4 lbs rice
- chicken broth
- 1 tbsp white wine
- 0.2 lbs green beans
Spanish Albondigas Recipe
- Mix ground beef with half of chopped onion, 2 cloves of garlic, half of all spices.
- Fry little meatballs on olive oil, take them out as sson as they are ready.
- To the same frying pan add the remaining onion, garlic, spicesm then add rice, wine and pour broth.
- Stew for 10 minutes.
- Add green beans and meatballs and stew until the rice is ready (another 10 minutes).
If you are interested in Mexican cuisine, be sure to check authentic Mexican Chicken Quesadilla recipe.
