The Mexican Albondigas are meatballs made of beef mixed with pork and rice, seasoned with spices and cooked in a tomato sauce with chipotle, where vegetables like potatoes, carrots, or zucchini, or other seasonal vegetables are added.
▶▶ I used chipotle in adobo: the Mexican Adobo sauce is made of chili pepper, vinegar, sugar, garlic, and herbs.
Originally, it was used to flavor and preserve meats.
🌶 Chipotle is a type of smoked chili pepper obtained by subjecting various spicy peppers, mainly of the “jalapeño” variety, to a long smoking process.
The recipe is dedicated to the song “Noi, ragazzi di oggi” written by Cristiano Minellono and Toto Cutugno, and performed by Luis Miguel, considered by many as the most successful musical artist in Latin American history.
The Mexican singer, who arrived in Italy almost at the age of fifteen, participated in the 35th Sanremo Festival in 1985, finishing second in the Champions category behind the winners Ricchi e Poveri, with the song “Se m’innamoro”.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 16 meatballs
- Cooking methods: Boiling, Stovetop
- Cuisine: Mexican
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup rice (precooked)
- 1.3 lbs mixed ground meat
- 1/4 onion
- to taste coriander
- to taste cumin
- to taste salt and pepper
- 5 tomatoes
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 onion
- 3 potatoes
- 7.8 oz chipotle in adobo
- to taste cumin
- to taste oregano
- to taste salt
Steps
Mix the precooked rice absorbed by water, with ground meat, onion, coriander, oregano, cumin, salt, and pepper.
Form the meatballs.
Create a sauce with: tomatoes, garlic, onion, potatoes, chipotle in adobo, cumin, oregano, and salt. Add enough water.
Bring to a boil, add the meatballs, and cook for 25 minutes.
Serve the albondigas with tortillas, lime, and if you like, also avocado.
The 35th Sanremo Festival took place from February 7 to 9, 1985, with Pippo Baudo hosting for the second consecutive time, alongside Patty Brard.
Eros Ramazzotti, who placed sixth in the festival with “Una storia importante”, debuted among the Champions after winning the New Proposals category the previous year.
With the Duran Duran, guests of the final evening, scenes of mass hysteria and fainting occurred that hadn’t been seen in Italy since the time of the Beatles.
The competing artists and guests sang in playback, except for Claudio Baglioni, who was the only one to perform live with “Questo piccolo grande amore” (proclaimed song of the century).
From the next edition of the Festival onwards, it was decided to have all participants sing live, with recorded backing tracks; from 1990, the orchestra was reintroduced.
