Description:

Authentic home recipe.

Source:

Yolanda M

Serves/Makes:4

Ingredients

• Broth:
• 1 medium tomato, minced
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) onions, minced
• 2 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) (or less) neutral cooking oil
• 2 quarts (1900 ml) chicken broth
• 1-1/2 tsp (7 ml) ground cumin
• 1 handful of mint with stems
• Additional chicken broth as needed
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) (heaping) cornstarch (optional)
• Albondigas:
• 1 medium tomato, finely diced
• 3/4 cup (175 ml) onions, finely diced
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 minced fresh mint stems included, packed
• 1 lb (.5 kg). ground beef (Costco size works fine)
• 1 tsp (5 ml) ground cumin
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) white rice
• 1 tsp (5 ml) salt
• 2 eggs
• Additional Vegetables:
• 3 carrots or more
• 3 zucchini or more

Preparation

• Broth:
• Heat oil in medium nonstick skillet.
• Combine minced tomato, minced onion, and minced garlic in skillet.
• Heat on low stirring occasionally until they are translucent and you can moosh them together.
• Add cooked tomato mixture to broth , bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer.
• During this time work on meatballs.
• Meatballs:
• Combine tomato, onions, garlic, mint, cumin, rice (uncooked), and salt.
• Mix together and add ground beef.
• Combine thoroughly--cean hands work best.
• Bring broth back to a boil.
• Take meat mixture about 1/4 cup (60 ml) at a time compress well, roll into a ball.
• Gently drop into boiling broth one meatball at a time. Drop in until all meatballs are in pot.
• Cover and simmer on medium boil for 1 hour. .
• Prep additional vegetables:
• Peel carrots, large ones cut in half lengthwise and cut all carrots in about 3 inch lengths. You want chunks of vegetables instead of sticks so they get soft but not mushy.
• Slice zucchini in half lengthwise and then into about 3 inch lengths (similar in size as carrots).
• Add carrots to broth in the last 15 minutes.
• Add 1/2 tsp (2 ml) ground cumin or to taste.
• Add salt if needed.
• Mix cornstarch in a little cool water or broth and temper with a little warm broth before stirring into pot. This optional step will give the broth a little more body if that is preferred.
• Add zucchini and a handful of mint, stems included, during the last few minutes. Remove stems if you find them offensive.

Comments

My friend Yolanda learned to make Albondigas Soup from her mother and tried to teach me because I like it so much. She's been making it her whole life and eyeball the correct amounts of the ingredients. The last time we cooked together I attempted to quantify them. I hope I've done her mom's recipe because it is delicious.

This recipe is a basic template you can modify any way you want. More garlic, cumin , mint? No problem. If you increase the tomato, onion, garlic cooked mixture just cook it down to concentrate the flavors.

Yolanda often uses the concentrate Better than Broth Chicken to make the broth.