<koko> wrote:

> Meatball Vegetable Soup

Looks like a very nice recipe indeed! I am going to make it one of
these days.

The premise of your recipe is very similar to that of _kololik_, an
Armenian soup.

Kololik is, too, basically a soup with stuffed meatballs. Its
ingredients and the technique of its preparation makes it, however,
different from your (presumably Mexican) albondigas soup. There are
several types of kololik and some are easier to make than the others.
Generally mutton or lamb is used for meat, except for the Shusha kind
where beef is used. (Shusha is a town in the infamous Nagorno-Karabakh
region, over which there has been a war between Armenia and
Azerbaidjan). Generally, kololik is prepared thusly: Make stock from
the bones. Put the meat through the meat grinder twice, or,
traditionally, pound it with a wooden mallet until it turns into a
homogeneous viscous mass. Sometimes meat is pounded after being put
through the grinder. To the minced meat add some of the following:
rice, groats or meal, or cereals like semolina, or flour, eggs, milk,
onions, herbs and spices like parsley, basil, tarragon, pepper,
sometimes Cognac or brandy. Either mix all of this with the meat, or
form egg-sized or larger meatballs and fill them with the above
ingredients or with pieces of butter. To the broth add rice or potatoes
or chestnuts or any combination of the above, and onions and herbs like
parsley and tarragon, and often tomato paste. When the broth is boiling,
add meatballs and cook until they float. Continue cooking until the rice
is ready.

Here's a more structured recipe from a book I have here.

Kololik

500 g (1.1 pounds) beef or lamb from the hindquarter (round or rump),
bone in
3 1/2 tablespoons semolina
50 g (1.8 oz) butter or clarified butter or ghee
2 eggs
500 g (1.1 pounds) potatoes, quartered
2 1/2 - 3 tablespoons rice, cooked
3 tablespoons tomato paste
3 tablespoons parsley
1 tablespoon basil
1-1.5 teaspoons pepper
4 onions, finely diced and fried until golden

Make stock from the bones and strain.
Put the meat through the meat grinder, mix in semolina, eggs, salt
and half of the pepper and beat for 10-15 minutes. Form egg-sized
meatballs.
Now make the filling. Mix the cooked rice, the fried onions, and
half of the herbs. Add salt. Press the filling into the centre of each
of the meatballs.
To the stock add the potatoes, then the tomato paste and bring to the
boil. Add the meatballs and the rest of the herbs and spices. Cook
until the meatballs float and the potatoes are ready. The soup is
sometimes served sprinkled with some parsley.

Victor