Blog

Beef Birria Wrapped in Tetelas

Eating a bowl of birria is like discovering the richness of Mexican cuisine all over again. Originally from the state of Jalisco, Mexico, birria combines a rich broth with slow-cooked meat, garnished with lime, cilantro and onions, and served with tortillas. While the original recipe calls for goat meat, each region has created unique variations.

Birria is typically eaten as a soup, but in this recipe, we’ll show you how to make beef birria stuffed in a corn tortilla turnover (tetela) with the broth on the side for dipping.

Authentic Mexican Birria

Inside these tetelas, you’ll find juicy, slow-cooked beef birria. Tetelas hail from the Mixtec region of Mexico (which includes Puebla and Oaxaca). The savory birria broth is the perfect companion.

What to Expect from This Recipe

Birria features a salty, slightly spicy broth. In this beef birria recipe, we slow-cook beef ribs, then chop the meat and reserve the broth for dipping. The meat is then placed in the tetela and topped with Adobera cheese — a fresh cheese from Guadalajara made from cow’s milk. The tetela is then folded, sealed and heated until crispy, and is served alongside the broth for dipping.

How the Recipe Is Structured

This beef birria recipe is broken down into the following sections:

• Marinating the Ribs
• Steaming the Ribs
• Making the Broth
• Preparing the Tetelas
• Assembling and Serving

When ready to eat, dip the meat- and cheese-filled delight into the broth and get ready for a flavor explosion!

Meet the Chef

This recipe is another creation from Chef Alex Torres, executive chef and founder of  Naakary restaurant in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico. (See his recipe for Crispy Ribeye Tacos.)

Learn How to Make Birria with Consomé

Ingredients

For the Beef and Marinade

• 1.25 lbs. beef ribs
• 4 Guajillo or mirasol chilis
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground thyme
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 large pinches coarse grain salt
• 3 whole cloves
• 8 tablespoon white vinegar
• 6 ½ cups water
• 2 Bay leaves

For the Broth

• ½ lb. Roma tomatoes
• 3 ozs. yellow pear tomatoes
• 3 ozs spring onion
• 2″ fermented garlic scape (stem) + 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

For the Tetela, Filling and Garnish

• 2 ozs. fresh cilantro
• 1.5 ozs. adobera cheese
• ¾ lb. corn masa (dough)

Marinate the Ribs

Make the Marinade

Devein your chilis and add them to the blender jar, followed by the garlic powder.

Next, add in the thyme.

Then the ginger powder.

Next, add in the pepper.

Then the salt.

Next, add the cloves.

Pour in the vinegar.

Finally, add the fermented garlic scape and vegetable oil to the jar.

Now your marinade is ready to blend.

Blend all the ingredients until smooth. The marinade should be a deep red-orange color.

Sear and Marinate the Ribs

Before we marinate the ribs, we’ll sear them to make sure the meat stays juicy. Place the ribs on a preheated grill or griddle and sear for about two minutes. Flip and sear the other side for two minutes.

Transfer the ribs to a bowl.

Pour the marinade over the ribs.

Stir to cover the entire surface of the ribs with marinade.

Let the ribs marinate for 30 minutes.

Steam the Ribs

Now it’s time to steam the ribs. First, add the water to a medium-sized pot.

Next, add the bay leaves. Tip: If you don’t have a traditional steamer or a basket that fits snugly into your pot, place a small, inverted metal cup into the water, and then add the basket. The cup will serve as a base and keep the basket from sagging or moving around.

Place the marinated ribs in the steamer basket in the pot and cover.

Put the pot on the stove and steam over medium-low heat for an hour.

Make the Broth

Now we’ll make the broth. After steaming, we’ll cook the ribs in this broth for a few hours until the meat is nice and tender. First, slice the Roma tomatoes into wedges.

Next, slice off the green stem of the spring onion and reserve for another use. Then, slice the white portion in half lengthwise.

Add the yellow pear tomatoes to the jar.

Then add the tomatoes and spring onions to the jar.

Blend all ingredients until you have a deep, smooth broth mixture.

Cook and Chop the Ribs

Cook the Ribs

Once the ribs have finished steaming, uncover the pot.

Using kitchen tongs, remove the steamer basket with the ribs.

Put the ribs back into the same pot with the existing broth.

Now pour the newly prepared broth mixture into the pot.

Cover the pot.

Cook over low heat for three to four hours, or until the meat is very tender.

Chop the Meat

Once the meat is ready, place on a cutting board and remove the bones.

Now chop the meat.

Looks so juicy and tasty!

Prepare the Tetelas

Shape and Press the Dough

Now we’re ready to shape the tetelas that will hold the meat. First, grab your pre-made dough.

Place the dough into a mixing bowl and pinch off chunks to make about 10 golfball-sized balls.

One at a time, place a ball of dough on a tortilla press lined with plastic wrap and flatten the dough slightly with your hand.

Close the tortilla press to flatten the dough.

Transfer the tetela with the plastic wrap to a cutting board and prepare to fill. It looks like a tortilla now, but soon we’ll fold it into a little triangular package.

Fill the Tetela

Place about two tablespoons of meat into the center of the dough.

Slice the adobera cheese.

Criss-cross three slices of cheese on top of the meat.

Fold the Tetelas

Now we’ll fold into a triangular shape. Supported by your plastic wrap or bag, fold one third of the dough over the filling toward the center of the circle.

Pick up the plastic to fold over the second side, making a triangular point at the top of the two folds.

Finally, fold the bottom up to complete your triangle.

Your tetela is now ready to heat!

Heat and Eat

Heat the Tetelas

Preheat a griddle over medium heat. Gently place the tetela on the griddle seam side up.

Heat for 3-5 minutes or until toasted on one side. Then flip and heat the other side.

Serve and Enjoy

Transfer three of the heated tetelas to a serving plate with a small bowl for the broth.

Ladle the birria broth into the bowl.

Top the broth off with a squeeze of lime and garnish your dish with cilantro sprigs.

To eat, dip the tetela into the broth and take an amazing, juicy bite. Be sure to have napkins handy!

So delicious!

More Mexican Beef Recipes from the Blog

• Crispy Ribeye Tacos
• Albondigas Mexicanas
• Bistec a la Mexicana
• Mexican Carne Asada

 

Authentic Mexican Meatballs

Mexican meatballs are a hot, hearty meal easy enough to pull together on any day of the week. Albondigas, which is the Spanish word for meatballs, are the stars of this dish, bathed in a thick, smoky chipotle salsa that will have everyone coming back for seconds.

How Is This Recipe Different from Mexican Meatball Soup?

While there are many albondigas soup recipes out there, our Mexican meatballs are meant to be eaten as an entrée, alongside rice, vegetables or other side dishes of your choice. That’s because the sauce is thicker than a typical soup broth.

What to Expect from This Recipe

For this recipe, you’ll pan roast and blend a few veggies, then cook the salsa to a smoky perfection. Next, mix up and roll the meatballs. Finally, you’ll cook the meatballs in the sauce, serve with your favorite side dish, spoon on some extra sauce and dig in. The flavors of the roasted vegetables, chipotle and cilantro will take you directly to the streets of Mexico!   

A Surprise Inside!

We add a surprise inside our meatballs for extra flavor and protein—hard boiled egg! Note that we don’t include rice inside our meatballs because it tends to soak up too much of the salsa, giving the meatballs a sticky texture.

How the Recipe Is Structured

The recipe is broken down into three simple sections:

• Preparing the Salsa
• Making the Meatballs
• Serving and Savoring

Let’s make a batch of albondigas!

Recipe Video

Learn How to Make Albondigas

Ingredients

For the Salsa

• 5 tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves, skin removed
• 4 cups beef broth (or chicken broth)
• ¼ white onion
• 1 chipotle chili (from a can of chipotle chilis)
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ cup vegetable oil

For the Meatballs

• 1 ¾ lbs. ground beef
• 3 hard boiled eggs, chopped into ¼-inch pieces
• 1 large egg
• ¼ cup breadcrumbs
• ¼ white onion, finely chopped
• ½ cup cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Prepare the Salsa

Roast the Vegetables

First, we’ll roast the vegetables. Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat and add the tomatoes, onions and garlic.

Roast the vegetables for 10 minutes, turning so that each side is evenly roasted. Be sure to only roast the garlic for two minutes. Any longer and it will taste bitter. Once each side has blackened and the skin on the tomatoes has blistered, remove from the heat.

Blend the Salsa

Place the veggies into your blender, along with ¼ cup of water and one chili from a can of chipotle chilies.

Blend for 30 seconds or until very smooth. You shouldn’t be able to see any pieces of tomato skin. Important: Cover the top of the blender with a kitchen towel and hold the top in place as you blend. Because the vegetables are hot, the pressure could cause the top to pop off and splash the hot ingredients.

Cook the Salsa

Pour ¼ cup of vegetable oil into a large pot heated over medium-high heat.

Once the oil is very hot, slowly pour the blended salsa into the pot. The salsa might splatter as you’re pouring, so work carefully.

Next, pour in the beef broth (or chicken broth).

Stir constantly and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat to medium and simmer until the tomato sauce darkens but doesn’t reduce. Meanwhile, make the meatballs.

Make the Meatballs

Make the Mixture

Dice ¼ onion and finely chop the cilantro. In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, large raw egg, diced onions, breadcrumbs, cilantro, salt and pepper.

Mix all ingredients using a wooden spoon or combine with your hands. Don’t overmix, as this will make the meatballs tough.

Roll the Meatballs

Break off a chunk of ground beef and roll into a rough ball.

Make a well with your finger in the meat.

Place a chunk of hard-boiled egg in the well.

Close the well and roll into a ball.

Repeat until you’ve rolled all the ground beef into balls. These are ready to cook!

Cook the Meatballs

Using kitchen tongs, place the raw meatballs into the hot salsa.

Cook for 20 minutes, turning over halfway through so the meatballs are evenly cooked.

Now you’re ready to eat!

Serve and Savor!

Place your meatballs on a plate and spoon over the salsa.

Serve with a side of rice, bread or tortillas. So tasty!

More Yummy Mexican Ground Beef Recipes from the Blog

• Pan-Fried Meatballs
• Mexican Picadillo
• Mexican Turkey Stuffing