This recipe is based on my original recipe that appeared on the front page of the food section of the Phoenix Arizona local paper picked by the food critic.

Today I had extra mini corn tortillas and ground turkey to use and that is how I came up with this recipe. For me this made 18 appetizer portions and I also made 9 extra plain meatballs for I had enough leftover for a dinner for two.

Ingredients for 18 appetizers

18 street sized corn tortillas

around 1/2 cup canola oil to soften the corn tortillas (you can save the un-used oil)

1 lb ground turkey (today I used 99% lean)

1 cup cooked rice (I used leftover take out rice)

2 eggs – beaten

1 teaspoon chipotle in adobo and a little of the sauce) – fine chopped

5 roasted garlic cloves – chopped (or you can use around three cloves ground to paste…The roasted garlic has a nice smokey taste and is much sweeter….I just roasted some yesterday and happened to have them)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground annatto

1/2 cup peppers & onions – diced and cooked

1 Tablespoon ground black pepper

1 Tablespoon sea salt flakes (preferably smoked …I used my homemade smoked sea salt)

1/2 cup of preferably home made salsa

Non stick spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray muffin tins with non stick spray.

Get a medium sized microwavable bowl. Brush each tortilla well with oil. Sick them up in a bowl and microwave about two minutes. The tortillas will be hot so be careful and use a spoon and lower each tortilla in a muffin section of the pan.

In a large mixing bowl mix together the turkey, rice, eggs, chipotle, garlic, cumin, annatto, peppers, onions, pepper, salt. *****at this point I pinched off 1/2 a teaspoon and microwaved it to taste and bumped it up slightly with a half a cup of my home made salsa that is very good.

Then I used my meatball scoop and filled each cup.

They went on the middle rack of a preheated 350 degree F oven till cooked. (In my oven this took 20 minutes)

Feel free to top them as you like.

I’m doing scallions, cilantro, and my home made pickled onions……Some people would love sour cream, salsas and cheese…… Or you can put all those things on the side.

ENJOY!!!