Caldo de albondigas or Mexican meatball stew is a very underrated but very popular dish in Mexican cuisine. every house hold has their own methods and tricks but across the country of Mexico the essence of the dish remains. Caldo de Albondigas is a tomato and chilli pepper based stew. Based on my research, the dish has Arabic origins, the word for meatball in Arabic being “al-bunduq.” in Spain during the Arabic occupation in the Iberian peninsula, this Recipe was Exchanged between cultures. eventually, with the colonization of Mexico, a mixture of different palates, indigenous ingredients and customs came the dish that we know today.
Caldo de albondigas is a dish that I was introduced to by my Puerto Rican mother. My mother consistently tried to learn different Mexican recipes so that we would feel closer and have knowledge on our culture. It’s something I’m immensely grateful for.In my opinion, my mothers version was the best since she added that puerto rican seasoning. It was a dish that brought us together, its definitely something to do with a loved one and an act of love.
PREPARATION
Like every recipe you want to prepare your tedious parts first so that at the end its all about cooking and cleaning. The first thing i did was cut all of my onions. In this recipe we will be using onions in 3 different ways. Let me explain, in the meatball itself we will have minced onion sautéed with garlic, which will enhance the overall umami of the beef. The 2nd application of onion will be for the red salsa we will be making to add to the stock. The 3rd and last application of onions will be as a garnish. Simply put we need onions at a mince, small dice and then the scraps. After cutting all of your onions, place them in 3 Different containers until ready to use.
Next thing we want to do is prepare our garlic. Similar to the onion we will be using this in 2 different ways. One to pair with the sautéed onions and the other to enhance the salsa. The only knife cut that you most focus on is a mince for the meatballs. As for the salsa itself you can leave the clove whole. Once that is complete you can start to soften the minced onion with olive oil, adding the garlic once the onion is fully cooked, as to not burn the garlic. I also added dried oregano, kosher salt and black pepper to build even more flavor. While that is on low heat, i started to prep the rest of my ingredients.
Another tedious step we want to get out of the way is prepping the herbs we will be using. With cilantro, what I did was pick the leaves and separate them from the stems. We need them prep’d in 3 different ways. The 1st way, is the most simple. We just want the stems, by picking the leaves off. The 2nd way is just whole leaves for the garnishes. Lastly, were are going to chop into small pieces which we will be using for the meatball itself. Next we will be doin the same with oregano. We will be keeping the stems but we also want to keep the leaves whole for the salsa.
Next steps are cleaning the dried chillies of the seeds and veins. The chilies that I chose for this recipe are anchos, guajillos and de arbol. You could leave the seeds and veins on the guajillos and anchos, however i didn’t want seeds in my stew and my gut cannot handle too much spice. We are already putting in chipotles and chiles de arbol. Which carry a lot of heat so we don’t need more. An easy way to clean the guajillos and anchos are by ripping off the stem of the pepper, and opening the cavity of the pepper and shake out the seeds. You can also run your fingers along the length of the inside to remove the veins and seeds. I suggest doing this over a sink or bowl. The chiles de arbol however, do not need to be de-seeded, just pick out which ones you need and place chillis to the side. Next, i had a heirloom tomatoes that i wanted to use for this salsa. Alternatively, you could also use Roma tomatoes as they are more cost efficient and do the small job.
After the ingredients for the salsa are done, I started working with the carrots. You will use carrots in two ways in this recipe. One way will be shredded and the other will be in rondelles, which are just flat uniform circles. Making sure to make them just the right size so that that they can fit your spoon perfectly. A piece of advice that my chef instructor told me was when making stews or soups you want to be able to get a piece of every ingredient in one spoon , which is the standard that we are striving for. The next way that we are preparing the carrots is by shredding them and squeezing the excess moisture. The reason we do this part is because we are also eventually adding rice. Rice expands and holds in moisture. It is important for the meatballs to keep their shape as they cook in the stew.
Lastly, we will also be adding potatoes and cabbage to this stew. This is possibly once of the easiest steps, we want to wash and peel our potatoes and cut at a medium to small dice, which ever is your preference. The cabbage should also be cut into manageable pieces that can fit a spoon.
This next part is where a bit of the cooking process starts. Now we are preparing the salsa for the stew. Using a wide sauté pan, we will start with our chilli peppers first. Using a hi heat oil like avocado or vegetable oil , bring your pan to medium heat. Toss in ancho and guajillo peppers. Using a pair of tongs, make sure to keep peppers making sure to keep them moving to not burn them. After they change into darker colors remove. Using the same oil toss in chiles de arbol and do the same. Depending on the amount you may start to cough. Remove once color changes to darker red. Once that is done now you can sauté the onions and garlic, once they have color remove from pan and place in a bowl. as you are cooking this ingredients separately you can place in a bowl, cover with a lid or wrap and allow steam to carry over cook ingredients. Once onions and garlic are cooked, remove and toss in tomatoes. Since tomatoes have alot more water content, the goal at this point is for the tomatoes to cook down to a jammy texture. Once achieved, toss in cooked ingredients back into pan. Pour in water or stock, allow to simmer and soften vegetables, cover with lid.
Once softened, place into a blender along with cilantro stems and oregano leaves. We are also adding chipotles in adobo to our salsa, you can decide how much you would like to add based on your spice tolerance. It also adds smokiness to the salsa. If you want your salsa looser, add more water, chunkier? Pulse. Smooth? Hi continuous speed. set aside for later use.
Now for the meatball preparation , I used 93% lean and 7% fat, which is important for a couple of reasons. The amount of fat will change not just the texture but also the flavor of the meatball. I try to watch the amount of fat that I consume especially animal fat which is saturated fat and should be watched to prevent bad cholesterol. Since my protein doesn’t have much fat it is important to give it as much flavor as I can while also adding moisture so it’s not a chocking hazard and has some bounce and chew.
The way I did this is by adding in the sautéed onions, garlic, carrot, raw rice, 2 tbsp of the salsa, chopped oregano, cilantro, a raw egg (as a binder, also adds fat and richness),I also seasoned with salt and pepper, achiote, cumin, coriander, garlic and onion powder. Once that is done, you could test out a small piece on a pan and adjust your seasonings. The next step is to create and shape your meatballs, we want to be mindful that they are just big enough to fit on a spoon ,not bigger. Once that is complete place in fridge until ready to use. Alternatively, I’d imagine you can prep this a day before.
Next we will be giving these meatballs color by getting a nice sear on the outside. Using a dutch oven, caldero or a pot, place about 1tbsp of oil, remember the meatballs don’t have much fat so they wont release much. that is also something to consider when searing meats like beef and pork. We want to sear for no more than 2 minutes on each side, on medium hi heat. Instead of using a spatula feel free to just shake the pot, which is what i chose to do. For the next step we are adding beef broth. You could also use water, vegetable stock or chicken stock. i had beef knuckles that i had made into a broth that I wanted to use so I did. the only difference will be the depth of flavor.
After, I added some of the salsa that we had made earlier. This is what is going to give your stew the most flavor. Remember all the effort and ingredients we put into this salsa, It will all now essentially be in the stew. don’t stress too much if you don’t have any stocks and are just using water , the salsa will bring out a lot of great flavors. One thing about this stew that I’m very particular about is not letting this stew boil. We don’t want a boil, boiling causes a lot of bubbles to rise which moves the meatballs violently in the water that can also deteriorate the shape of the meatball which we do no want. Keep a eye on it and keep at a simmer.
Once the meatballs are completely cooked, add in your potatoes, making sure to keep and eye on them as well. We don’t want mushy potatoes but firm and soft on the inside and they keep their shape. Once the potatoes are about 50% done, we add in our carrots and we use the same care for this carrots. When the carrots and potatoes are done, cut off the heat add in your cabbage and your herbs. The reason I do it this way is because I still want “bite” from the cabbage and I don’t want to simmer the herbs I want them to steep so that they release their aromas and flavors slowly and don’t become muddled or bitter. After about 10 min pass your dish is ready to serve. garnish with onions and cilantro leaves.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- using a saute pan on medium heat, add in hi heat oil.
- add in gaujillo and ancho peppers. toss making sure they change into a dark red but do not burn. when done remove.
- repeat with chiles de arbol. remove when they turn dark red.
- add in onions and garlic, saute until have color. once cooked , remove and add in tomatoes.
- once tomatoes are jammy and broken down, add back in onions, garlic and peppers. add water. cover. turn off heat and let steep for about 10 min.
- place the ingredients into a blender. also add in cilantro stems, oregano leaves and lastly chipotles in adobo. blend until smooth and set aside.
- using a bowl, add your ground beef with rest of ingredients for the filling. using your hand make sure to fully incorporate ingredients. if using beef with higher fat content make sure to work quick as to not melt and emulsify meat. which will result in a tough meatball.
- once meatballs are complete set aside
- Using a pot, at hi heat, add in hi heat oil of you choice. add in meatballs a couple at a time to sear. if you overcrowd pot meatballs will start to steam instead of sear. do batches at time.
- once meatballs are seared add in beef stock, veg stock or water. bring to a simmer. simmer for about 35-40 min.
- around the 30 min mark add in your potatoes. after about 6 min add in carrots.
- once meatballs, potatoes and carrots are completely cooked turn off heat. Add in cabbage and herbs. allow to steep for about 10 min.
- once ready to serve garnish with cilantro leaves and onion
CITATIONS
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