Warm and Hearty Almondigas

"Lord, I know that there's a reason for everything, I pray Oh Father that you will hear our prayers to stop the rain and bless us with good weather. Amen."

I barely got any sleep last night, it's raining torrentially! No tropical storm predicted and I couldn't believe that it is only a monsoon rain. I saw the flood reaching our gate and I couldn't do anything but pray. Pray for our safety and for those people who are greatly affected by the heavy rain.

As I watched the news today, my heart grieves for the victims of the flood, I feel sorry for the poor little babies, elderly, pregnant and new moms who are being rescued by our living heroes. I'm in the moment of grief when my little boy asked me for food! Oh my! I'm so busy watching that I forgot to cook for breakfast. Poor Lowell!

To make up for my kiddo, I asked him what he wanted to eat and he gladly said SOUP! I checked the available ingredients in the kitchen and found ground meat and some veggies. At first I'm planning to have sopas (creamy macaroni soup), but we had sopas the other day. So I think again for another dish and that is when I saw the misua. Ok, problem solved! I will be making almondigas! Yey! This warm and hearty dish is basically a meatball soup with misua. You can add vegetables like cabbage or patola if you want. 

INGREDIENTS:

Meatballs:

1/2 kg ground lean pork

1 medium size carrot, grated

1 stalk of celery or a few stems of kintsay (Chinese celery)

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 egg

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt
dash of pepper

Soup:

2-3 bundles of misua

1/2 head small cabbage, chopped

5 c chicken or any meat broth or water*

1 medium size white onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

canola or vegetable oil
1 tbsp fish sauce
salt and pepper to taste

*you can add broth cubes if you will use water, but plain water is also fine.

INSTRUCTION:

Meatballs:

1. Combine and mix thoroughly all the ingredients until well incorporated.

2. Form into balls. Set aside.

Soup:

1. Heat a cooking pot and saute the onion and garlic.

2. Put the broth and let it boil. Add the fish sauce.

3. Drop the meatballs and cook for 10-15mins over low to medium heat.

4. Put the cabbage and cook for 5 mins.

5. Put in the misua and cook for 3 mins while stirring gently.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.

7. Turn off the heat.

8. Serve hot!

My son gave me a very warm hug after finishing his meal. My heart melts when he did that! Thank you Lord for this day! 

Happy day always,

Rhea