Chicken Meatball Soup (Albondigas)

Albondigas was a dish I always loved as a kid. My mom always made them out of chicken and it was the best soup ever! Even now I will make them and when I am making the mixture for the meatballs, my sense of smell is overwhelmed by the amazing smell of the mint and garlic.

I know it may seem weird to use mint in a meatball, but trust me, they turn out so amazing. Plus when you add some fresh oregano and lemon on top, it puts this dish on another level. 

The veggies are optional in this dish. When I know that I am going to make this dish I check my fridge for veggies I plan to get rid off. In this case I had a carrot, half of a potato, and chayotes.

This was a very tricky recipe to get from my mother. The reason being is because like most Mexican mothers you get recipes that say 2 handfuls of rice and add enough flour until the dough feels right. Clearly this is not helpful when you don't actually know the recipe by heart. After a few tries, this is as close to my mom's albondiga recipe as I could get. 

*When making them try to use a whole chicken vs what I did because by using the whole chicken, you get a much richer stock. 

Ingredients:

1 Whole Chicken OR 2 chicken breasts with 2 chicken pieces of your choice (as long as it makes enough chicken stock)

1/4 cup of jasmine rice (raw)
3/4 cup maseca instant corn flour
2 garlic cloves
~10 mint leaves
1/2 onion
2 roma tomatos
1 egg
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp + 1/4 tsp salt
16 cups of water
Optional: Veggies such as carrots or potatoes.

Step 1:
Wash your chicken pieces and place all, BUT chicken breasts, into a large cooking pot. To the cooking pot add 1/4 of the onion, 1 garlic clove, 5 mint leaves, salt, and water. Turn heat to high to bring everything to a boil.

Step 2: Time to prep the chicken meat balls:
In a food processor add the raw chicken breasts, the rest of the onion, 1 garlic clove,  tomato, mint, and egg. Pulse until you get a paste.

Step 3: Pour the mixture in step 2 into a large bowl and add the raw rice, oil, and maseca instant corn flour. Mix everything with a spoon.

Step 4: Make sure to pay attention to your chicken broth and remove any residue that comes to the top of the pot at the time of boiling (the foamy white stuff).
*You tend to get more when you use the whole chicken.

Step 5: When the broth has begun to boil, start making the meat balls by rolling them in the palm of your hands. Let them drop into the pot. Repeat until you run out of meat.
*Make sure to only drop the meatballs until the water is boiling so they do not stick together.
*They will drop to the bottom automatically and will rise when they begin to cook.

Step 6: Once you have made all the meatballs, bring the heat to low and place the lid slightly ajar. Dice the remaining tomato and pour into your broth. Cook for 30 minutes with the lid on and on low heat.

Step 7: If using veggies such as potatoes or carrots, add these now and cook for an additional 8-10 minutes.
* I like to sprinkle some dried oregano and fresh lemon juice to my plate. Enjoy 😋