Soup With Plantain Balls
Contributed by Virginia Hirons

Ingredients:

4 cups beef broth
1/4 c. ground raw peanuts
2 tbsp.oil
Salt and pepper to taste
4 small potatoes
Achiote al gusto
2 green plantains
1/4 c. ground cooked meat
1 tbsp. minced onion
1/2 tbsp. minced parsley
1 large cabbage leaf

Directions:

First make the beef broth. Strain it and add a bit of the achiote. Boil one of the plantains in this broth for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, grate and knead the other plantain. In 1 tbsp. of oil place a few grains of the achiote until you get a good color. Remove them and in this oil, brown the onion, the peanuts and meat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix the raw grated plantain with the cooked one and the other tbsp. of oil and knead well. Make little balls of this using a tsp. of the browned mixture in each for filling. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes, cut in pieces, and add the potatoes and chopped cabbage to the broth. When almost done, add the plantain balls and cook about two minutes longer. Add the parsley just before serving.