Spicy Albondigas

Meatballs = Totally not my thing

I don't make them. I don't eat them. They've never appealed to me.

And then I found this recipe and was very intrigued, but I almost passed on it because of the whole meatball thing.

Oh. But these aren't meatballs. No, no.

They're albondigas.

It was the name that convinced me. Its too fun to say. I pranced around the house chanting "albondigas" while they were cooking. True story.

I'm glad I didn't pass on this one because it was delicious. The meatballs totally take on the great flavor of the spicy broth (instead of tasting like, well, balls of meat) and had such a nice, soft texture too. It will definitely be added into our dinner rotation - and I'm enjoying the leftovers for lunch today!

Spicy Albondigas
original recipe from Allrecipes.com (I reduced it down, so I'm posting a version with my changes)

Ingredients

Meatballs
1 lb. lean ground beef (could also use turkey)
1 egg
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup uncooked white rice
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Soup
5 cups chicken broth
2 carrots, sliced (I used about 2 handfuls of baby carrots)
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers (such as RO*TEL®)
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce (I used a spicy Mexican tomato sauce)
1 (7 ounce) can diced green chiles, drained (I didn't use this because of the spicy tomato sauce, and I didn't miss them)
1 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tsp. ground cumin

Directions

1. Combine ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, rice, cumin, garlic powder, and salt in a large bowl. Mix well.

2. Bring chicken broth to a boil over medium heat in a large kettle.

3. Form the beef mixture into 1 inch meatballs, using about 1 1/2 tablespoons of meat for each. Turn the heat down under the chicken broth to a simmer and drop the meatballs into the broth. Simmer the meatballs in the broth for 20 minutes, until meatballs are cooked through.

4. Stir in the carrots, onion, celery, canned diced tomatoes with green chiles, tomato sauce, canned chiles, cilantro, garlic powder, oregano, and cumin. Simmer the soup for 1 hour to cook the vegetables and blend the flavors. (I let mine cook for over an hour and a half, and it reduced down to a more stew-like consistency)

We topped ours with some fresh avocado and served with fresh, homemade tortilla chips.