Mix the minced meat with 1 teaspoon of the the above spices, ¼ of an onion finely sliced, salt. Add the partially cooked white rice. Add salt. Mix thoroughly using hands.

Shape into oval meatballs.

Fry in a cast iron pan on medium heat, with a low amount of oil. The goal is to brown the outside and cook on the inside, please note this is not a deep fry. It took me 5 minutes to fry each batch.

Set that aside and work on the tomato sauce. It took me about 30 minutes to make the sauce.

Add 1 teaspoon of oil to a pot, fry the diced onion until golden brown.

Add 4 tomatoes, diced. Keep stirring, add small amounts of water to prevent burning. As it cooks use edge of wooden spoon or your lofrega to mash the onions and tomatoes.

Add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste and ½ cup of tomato sauce.. This is to thicken the sauce.

Add 1 tablespoon of garlic paste.

Add the rest of your spice mix.

Slice 1 green pepper and add to the stew mix.

Add the fried meatballs to the stew, cover and cook for 15 minutes.

Turn heat off.

Sprinkle fresh chopped parsley to add color. Serve.