Albondigas en Chipotle – Episode 2 | Gon Cookin’

Ingredients

• 1lbs of ground beef
• 1 whole white onion
• Canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 4 medium sized tomatoes
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 chicken eggs
• 2 Tbsp Chicken bouillon powder, or MSG
• 1 tsp of white rice
• A pinch of dried oregano
• 2 Tbsp salt, then adjust to taste if needed
• 2 Tbsp ground black pepper (to finish)
• 1 Tbsp garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp Neutral Cooking oil (not olive oil)

Directions

1. Start by prepping the meatballs. Dice half an onion and save the other half for the salsa.
2. Into a mixing bowl, combine the diced onion, 1lb of ground beef, garlic powder, chicken bouillon powder, salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon of white rice, pinch of dried oregano, and 2 eggs. Mix thoroughly, and form into meatballs. You should be able to make 6 decadent sized meatballs. Place onto a plate, and set aside.
3. We’ll prepare the salsa. Place a frying pan onto the stove, add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, and preheat the pan until the oil starts to shimmer, or even start smoking. Add in the half onion, tomatoes, and garlic cloves to the pan. You want to blacken the outside as much as possible for each of the ingredients. No need to wipe or wash this pan as it’ll be used again very shortly.
4. Once the vegetables are blackened, place them into a food processor of your choice. It could be a blender, or a smaller food processor, or even a mortar and pestle.
5. Before blending add in salt, pepper, chipotle peppers to your spice level (¾ of the small can is around a medium), and chicken bouillon powder. Blend/process, then taste to adjust any seasoning.
6. Time to cook the meatballs. In the same frying pan, turn the stove back onto medium-high heat, and add in a little bit of cooking oil. Wait for the oil to start to shimmer, then add meatballs into the frying pan. You might not be able to fit them all on the same pan. You also don’t want to crowd the pan as it’ll steam the meatballs instead of browning them. Browning can be done in batches. The meatballs don’t need to be cooked all the way as they’ll be finished off when we add in the salsa.
7. Once all the meatballs are browned, add them all onto the pan and pour on top the salsa. Bring it up to a bubbling boil then turn the heat down to bring it to a gentle bubble, to medium to medium low on the heat. Cook uncovered for about 10-12 minutes. Leaving it uncovered should let the excess water evaporate to make a nice thick salsa.
8. Serve the meatballs with Spanish rice, or regular white rice. Double the recipe amounts to make extras for leftovers to make into breakfast tacos in the morning! Enjoy!