Venezuelan "Bollos Pelones"

I should say that I love Venezuelan food! My beautiful country has an excellent gastronomy and it is so delicious!! Here I'm giving you "Bollos Pelones" recipe

What are those? Bollos Pelones are delicious meatballs of ground beef covered in arepa dough, covered in a savory tomato sauce. You can actually fill them with other types of meat: pork, shredded chicken, but the classic version that I grew up with is filled with ground beef.

Prep Time: 2 hours
Cook Time: 1 hour
Yields: 8 bolllos

Ingredients

Dough
2 CUPS PRE-COOKED WHITE CORNMEAL (AVAILABLE IN LATIN GROCERY STORES ASK FOR THE DOUGH TO MAKE AREPAS)
2½ CUPS CHICKEN BROTH
1 TABLESPOON VEGETABLE OIL

Ground beef filling
½ POUND GROUND BEEF
2 CLOVES GARLIC CRUSHED
¼ CUP RED PAPRIKA
½ WHITE ONION
3 STRIPS BACON FINELY CHOPPED
ADOBO TO TASTE
1/2 TEASPOON TOMATO PASTE
1 CAN TOMATOES 14 OZ, CUT INTO SMALL PIECES
¼ CUP CHOPPED GREEN OLIVES
2 TABLESPOONS CAPERS
½ CUP RED COOKING WINE OPTIONAL

Sauce:
½ MEDIUM ONION
½ RED PEPPER
½ CAN TOMATOES 14 OZ
2 TABLESPOONS TOMATO PASTE
2 GARLIC CLOVES CRUSHED
SALT TO TASTE

Directions

Filling
Heat vegetable oil in a pan, cook crushed garlic, paprika, bacon and onion for one minute. Add ground beef, followed by adobo. Once the meat is cooked, add tomatoes, olives, capers, red wine and tomato paste, lower the temperature, cover and let the sauce thicken.

Dough
To prepare the dough, the chicken broth should be warm. Place the broth in a medium bowl and slowly mix in flour. Mix with a wooden spoon and once the dough has a similar texture to cookie dough, add one tablespoon of oil and knead with your hands for 3 to 5 minutes. Let stand for about 5 minutes.

Tomato sauce: Blend canned tomatoes, paprika and onion. Place in a sauce pan over medium heat and add tomato paste, salt and garlic. Cook until thickened.

Assemble the bollos
Make a ball of dough (slightly bigger than a golf ball) and open a hole in the center, fill it with the ground beef, close it with more dough, making sure it maintains a round shape. Eliminate excess dough and use a little water to smooth over.
Repeat with all of the meat and dough until you have used up all your ground beef, setting them aside until you are ready to cook.
Bring water to a boil in a deep pot, add meat balls carefully to prevent breakage. Let them cook for about 12 minutes, or until they float, which means they are ready. Remove them carefully, drain and let them rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Place all meat balls in a serving platter and serve with sauce over them. Enjoy with white rice or just by themselves.