Spanish or Porcupine Meatballs
Give Your Meatballs Some Zip and Flair With Spanish Albondigas
Albóndigas- (Al-bon-"dig"-as) noun 1. Spanish meatballs, in Sopa de Albondigas, and served "Tapas" style baked in a tomato wine sauce. 2. a flavorful recipe
Meatballs have found their way into many cultures, each with their own unique ingredients and cooking styles. This particular version is alive with flavors of bell peppers, cilantro, cumin and garlic that makes it stand apart from the crowd of the lightly seasoned norm. You can even use ground turkey as they do on the sunny Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean.
Another key factor in making delicious moist meatballs is filling ingredients. Their Italian counterparts use fillers like bread and cheese, not so with the Albondigas. They incorporate a unique and novel approach here, utilizing cooked rice that some recipes denote as “porcupine meatballs”.
Albondigas
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup onion, minced
- 1/8 cup red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- 2/3 tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon cilantro
- 1 pound ground beef, turkey or chicken
- 2 each egg white, beaten
- 1/2 cup rice, cooked
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/2 gallon chicken bouillon
Directions:
- Sauté the onions, peppers and garlic in the olive oil and let the mixture cool
- Combine the mixture with the chicken, cumin, cilantro, rice, egg, salt and pepper.
- Roll into meatballs.
- Bring the chicken broth to a boil and simmer the meatballs until cooked.
- If making a soup add corn, chopped tomato, and additional chopped bell peppers
- Garnish with avocado, cilantro and lime
If making for a Tapa or Appetizer you may simmer the cooked meatballs in some tomato sauce with red wine, cilantro, onions and bell peppers.
