No meat 'meat'balls!
- Zoe Cowell-Jones
- May 4, 2022
- 2 min read
Meatballs are on of my eldest son's favourite meals - he'd probably eat spaghetti and meatballs every day if he could! I challenged myself to find a vegetarian recipe and so here we are (it's also actually vegan). The beans and lentils give you protein and fibre so not to worry about missing out on protein with cutting down on the meat. But I'm going to be honest and say that I was the only one in my family that liked them. They taste a bit like falafel to me and I'm the only one that likes falafal so perhaps thats why! So the hunt continues to a veggie version that Henry will eat!
Ingredients (makes 16 balls):
1 red onion roughly chopped
2 large garlic cloves crushed
1 400g can green lentils drained and rinsed
1 400g can black beans drained and rinsed
1 heaped tsp of ground coriander
1 heaped tsp of paprika
2 tbsp tomato puree
100g ground almonds
Half a tbsp of olive oil
Method:
Add the olive oil to a large pan and heat, add the garlic and red onion until they soften after a couple of minutes
Add the black beans, lentils, coriander, and paprika. Stir and cook for a further 5 mins.
Pour the cooked beans mixture into a food processor along with the tomato puree and ground almonds. Blend until smooth (you may need to scrape down the edges of the food processor a couple times)
Use your hands to shape into balls, you should get about 16 or so
Add oil to a pan and fry until turning crispy or place in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil for 20 minutes at 200C
Serve with spaghetti or rice and your favourite tomato sauce. A really simple one I make is:
Either a 400g can of chopped tomatoes or a 500g carton of passata
Half a finely chopped onion
1 crushed garlic cloves
Half a tsp of italian herbs
Method:
Gently fry the onion in a pan until the onion softens, add the garlic and stir for a further couple of minutes.
Add the tomatoes and herbs and bring to the boil and turn down to simmer whilst your pasta is cooking!
Let me know if you try this one!!
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