Place the the rice in a small bowl and completely cover with water. Let soak for at least 30 minutes.
While the rice is soaking, start the stock broth by adding 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil to a stock pot. Add the chopped onions, carrots and celery and sauté until vegetables are tender. Add the beef stock, water and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add garlic, cumin, Mexican oregano and black pepper and allow to simmer while you are making the meatballs.
Drain the rice and place the rice, ground beef and ground sausage in a large bowl. Add grated carrots, egg, sea salt, chopped dehydrated onion, cumin, black pepper, Mexican oregano and fresh chopped cilantro. Using your fingers work the ingredients together until very well mixed. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Use a small cookie scoop to measure the meat mixture and roll into meatballs. Ours were about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inch sizes. Continue making meatballs and placing them on the parchment lined baking sheet. You should have about 28-30 meatballs.
Bring your stock up to a rolling boil and gently drop each meatball into the stock. Do NOT stir or the meatballs will break apart. Allow the broth to continue to boil for 10-15 minutes until meatballs start floating to the surface.
Lower the heat and add the zucchini and the cabbage and continue to cook until the vegetables are soft.
Serve this Mexican Meatball soup (Albondigas) topped with fresh chopped cilantro and hot flour tortillas on the side. Also it’s delish topped with a little Cholula Sauce.