Meatballs with Chipotle Sauce

Name: Meatballs with Chipotle Sauce
Prep time: 70 min
Cook time: 40 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Mexicana
Ingredients: 3 eggs; 450 grams ground meat, beef; 1/2 cups rice, cooked; 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin; 1/2 teaspoons oregano, dehydrated; 1 teaspoon salt; 3/4 kilos red tomato; 3 chipotle chiles, whole; 1/4 onions; 1 clove garlic; 1 tablespoon lard, or vegetable oil; 1/4 liters beef broth

andreina nasser

A classic dish favorite among many Mexican children, meatballs are also liked by elderly people—perhaps because, being made from ground meat (which, curiously, is not frequently used in homemade Mexican food), they are easy to cut, chew, and digest. The meat you choose should have a little fat to season the sauce, but not too much to avoid making a greasy stew. Opt for ground meat that is about 85% to 90% lean and 15% to 10% fat for the best results. I like to use half beef and half pork, but you can choose the type of meat you prefer or what is on sale at the time of buying the ingredients. (Also try the delicious meatball soup and fish meatballs.)

Reviewed by Editorial Team of Kiwilimón

Published: 11-11-2013

Preparation

30 mins

40 mins

Medium

Prepare the hard-boiled eggs: Place two of the eggs in a small saucepan and cover them with water. Cover the saucepan and boil them over medium heat until they have boiled for about 5 minutes and are hard. Drain the water and let the eggs cool to room temperature or at least until they reach a temperature that allows you to handle them. Peel them and discard the shell. Remove the cooked yolk and chop the cooked whites into pieces of about half a centimeter in size. Prepare the meatballs: In a medium bowl, place the ground meat, the hard-boiled egg yolks, the other egg (raw, without shell), the cooked rice, cumin, oregano, and half a teaspoon of salt. Mix first with a spoon and then with your hands until everything is perfectly combined. With damp hands to make handling the meat easier, grab a small amount of it. Take a piece of hard-boiled egg and place it in the center of the meat. Roll the mixture between your hands so that it forms a meatball with the piece of egg in the center as the "core." The ball should have a diameter of about 2 centimeters (3/4 inch). Repeat until all the mixture is turned into meatballs.