Eloy Leon Mendez's albondigas
Dear SOS: I hope you still have in your files a recipe for albondigas. I had it for a long time but I lost it. Thank you in advance for your help.
E. Westerhaut
Downey
Dear E.: This recipe ran in October 1991. Albondigas are usually served in a soup, but these would be great over hot rice. For all-beef meatballs, use 2 pounds of ground beef and omit the pork.
Combine the beef, pork, ground cumin, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, cloves, minced onion, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and mint in a bowl. Mix thoroughly with your hands. Gently stir in the eggs. Form the mixture into 1-inch meatballs. Set aside.
Place the tomatillos in boiling water with the garlic, remaining 1/2 onion and cumin seeds. Cook until the tomatillos are tender, about 10 minutes. Strain and place them into a blender with the green chiles and 1 cup of the cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Puree the mixture.
Heat the oil in a 5-quart Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the pureed chile sauce and meatballs. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer over low heat about 20 minutes. Stir in the remaining cilantro.
Get our Cooking newsletter.
Your roundup of inspiring recipes and kitchen tricks.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
