Pork meatballs braised in chipotle and peanut

Name: Pork meatballs braised in chipotle and peanut
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 10 oz ground pork; ¼ cup panko breadcrumbs; 1 tsp smoked paprika; ½ cup long grain white rice; 1 red onion, diced; 1 bell pepper, seeded and diced; 2 tbsp tomato paste; 1 tbsp smooth peanut butter; 2 tsp chipotles in adobo, minced; 1 tbsp light brown sugar; ¼ cup full-fat Greek yogurt; 2 tbsp raw pepitas; olive oil, salt, pepper

Peanut butter and chipotle in the same pan, which sounds wrong until the sauce thickens.

At a Glance

Time

40 min

Adjust servings

Story

Peanut butter here is not a flavor so much as a thickener that happens to taste of peanuts. Its fat and protein emulsify the water you add into something glossy that clings to a meatball, which tomato paste alone will not do. It is the same trick a mole pulls with nuts and seeds, several hours faster, and without the long afternoon of quiet reflection that one demands.

Ingredients

10 oz ground pork
¼ cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ cup long grain white rice
1 red oniondiced
1 bell pepperseeded and diced
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp smooth peanut butter
2 tsp chipotles in adobominced
1 tbsp light brown sugar
¼ cup full-fat Greek yogurt
2 tbsp raw pepitas
olive oilsalt, pepper

Method

The sauce comes together in the pan the meatballs browned in, which is not a shortcut. Every brown scrap fused to the base of that pan is the flavor, and all of it goes in.

Rice with the onion and pepper. Soften them in the pot first with a little oil, 2 to 3 minutes, then the rinsed rice, a cup of water and salt. Boil, cover, drop to low, 13 to 15 minutes. Fork it through.
Pepitas in a dry pan over medium, moving constantly, 1 to 3 minutes, until they puff and start leaping. Out, salted, set aside.
Whisk the tomato paste, peanut butter, brown sugar and minced chipotle together in a bowl. It will look like an unpromising brown sludge. Hold your nerve.
Pork and panko and smoked paprika, mixed with a light hand and rolled into 10 tight balls. Overwork it and they go bouncy.
Brown them all over in a hot pan, 3 to 4 minutes, then push them aside. The sludge goes into the bare half for 30 seconds to a minute, until the smell turns toasty, then 1 cup of water goes in and the whole thing comes together. Simmer 5 to 7 minutes, spooning it over, until it coats a meatball and stays there. 160F in the middle.
Over the rice, with the yogurt loosened with a splash of water and the pepitas thrown over.