Tortitas de carne en salsa (meat patties stewed in sauce)

One of my favorite home cooked meals for any night of the week!

I love a good meal that involves sauce, growing up my mom frequently made 'albondigas' also known as 'Tortitas de carne' which in English is meat patty. She would stew them in home made tomato sauce and served it with rice, beans and tortillas. Now a days this is one of my go to meals during the week because its quick, easy and can be made as healthy as you want it.

Typically 'tortitas de carne' are made with red meat and vegetables and then fried to stew in a tomato based sauce. The beauty of this dish is that you can tailor it to be your own and on nights where you are in a hurry just throw whatever you find in your fridge. Out of all the variations I've made over the years, I'm sharing my favorite version. I've made a few changes to my moms recipe but mostly on the technique I use. For the patties I prefer to put all the vegetables in the processor and get it to the smallest size without it becoming a sauce. I do this because I don't like the bigger chucks of vegetables, they tend to fall out or make the patties chunkier. On the sauce side, I add half of a 'Mexican squash' for more nutrition. I also tend to air fry the instead of frying them on days that I'm feeling lazy.

As I always say "Learn the process, make it your own!"

Ingredients:

Tortitas de Carne

• 1-1/2 lbs ground beef, chicken or turkey

• 1/4 green bell pepper

• 1/4 white onion

• 1 roma tomatoes

• 2 garlic cloves

• bunch of cilantro

• salt & pepper to tasta

• 1 tbsp Chicken or beef bouillon

• 1 tsp cumin

• 1 tsp paprika

• 1 egg

• Salsa inglesa

• Mustard

Sauce

• 3 Tomatoes

• 1/4 bell pepper

• 1/4 onion

• 2 garlic cloves

• 1/2 squash (optional)

• 1 tbsp chicken buillon

• 1 tsp cumin

• 1 tsp oregano

• 1/2 packed of cilantro & annatto sazon

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 1 cup of water

1. Wash and cut the vegetables and herbs for the meat patties. Finely dice them or put them in a processor to get them into small pieces.

2. Season the protein with the seasonings listed, add the diced vegetables and the egg. Mix everything well and on parchment paper start to shape it into extra small burger patties.

3. Sear each meat patty on a pan on medium heat with preferred oil OR air fry them for 10 mins. They do not need to be cooked all the way through because they will finish cooking in the sauce. If you don't want to stew them in sauce then cook them throughly.

4. While the meat patties are cooking, make the sauce. Add all the ingredients and blend them until smooth.

5. Place a sauce pan on medium heat, once hot add the sauce and let it come to a light boil. Once it starts to boil add in the meat patties. Cover and let it stew for 10 mins or until they are throughly cooked.

Because I'm trying to keep things on the healthier side I served it with a spinach based salad and steamed white rice but you do as your heart desires! For the video recipe follow @Flourishwithg on instagram and TikTok. Enjoy!