Melted Cabbage Meatball Soup
Posted: | Categories: Recipes | Tags:soup winter
Melted Cabbage Meatball Soup
Melissa Ben-Ishay
There’s nothing better than melted cabbage (except maybe this soup). The tiny meatballs can be a little tedious to roll, but if you start with cold meat like I did, rolling them gets them to room temperature easily so they sear well. (And, of course, the size makes it easy for them to roll right onto your spoon.) The juice from the grated tomatoes adds extra flavor without the texture of tomatoes that can sometimes be polarizing in soups. This is the perfect cold-weather soup when all you want is to cozy up with warm, easy-to-make comfort food.
Ingredients
- For the soup
- ½ green cabbage, chopped
- 1 1/2 shallots, chopped
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 3 medium tomatoes
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 cups bone broth
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- Juice of ½ lemon
- For the meatballs
- 1 lb. ground beef, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- 1 small tomato, grated with the wide holes of a box grater
- ½ shallot, grated with small holes of a box grater
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Directions
- For the soup, add the chopped cabbage, shallots, and onion to a large bowl to have ready once the meatballs are done.
- Make the meatballs. Add the beef, salt, cumin, turmeric, paprika, garlic powder, pepper, garlic, tomato, shallot, and baking soda to a bowl and mix lightly with your hands, just to get everything combined. Try not to overwork it!
- Roll the mixture into ½” balls and set on a plate.
- Heat 2 teaspoons of avocado oil in a large Dutch oven and add half the meatballs (so they sear and don’t steam). Cook for a minute, turning once a sear forms, and repeat until the meatballs are seared. Remove the cooked meatballs from the pot and repeat with the other half. Keep the meatballs on a plate while you start the soup.
- Add the bowl of cabbage, shallot, and onion to the pot and raise the heat to medium-high.
- Use a wooden spoon to scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan and give everything a stir. Cook for 3 minutes, then cover. Cook for a few minutes, then remove the lid and deglaze the pan with ½ cup of water to make sure you get all the flavor off the bottom of the pot.
- Grate the tomatoes with the wide holes of a box grater into a small bowl. Add the grated garlic and tomato paste to the bowl.
- Add the bowl with the tomatoes into the pot. Stir in the salt, cumin, turmeric, paprika, garlic powder, and black pepper, then pour in the broth. Return the meatballs to the pot and stir so they’re fully submerged in the liquid.
- Cover and cook at a low simmer for an hour and a half. Just before serving, stir in the cilantro and lemon juice. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
