I used to make these babies with soy textured protein. However, I have been trying to reduce the amount of soy I eat. Don’t get me wrong, I still eat soy products every now and then (only organic though) as I am not totally anti-soy like a lot of people are, but I think too much of anything is never good. And when you are a vegetarian it doesn’t mean you need to be a soy fanatic, there are many other sources of vegetable protein out there. Like lentils, so to speak.
I made these vegan meatballs with a combination of lentils and mushrooms and it worked really well. I used gluten-free breadcrumbs to help the mixture bind and I decided to bake them rather than shallow fry them. You can use either green or brown lentils. I have used both before and had the same result.
I served my lentil meatballs with a delicious Italian tomato sauce on a bed of tricolour cooked quinoa. But they would go really well with pasta as well or even with a different type of sauce.
Lentil and mushroom meat(less)balls
- Prep Time: 20m
- Cook Time: 30m
- Serves: 2
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cooked lentils (green or brown)
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 10 button mushrooms finely chopped
- 1 cup gluten-free breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
Italian tomato sauce
- 1 bottle of tomato passata
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 handful fresh basil leaves
- 1 pinch chilli flakes
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
- fresh parsley to serve
Instructions
- To make the meat(less)balls start by preparing the mushrooms. Heat some olive oil in a pan and add the garlic and onion. Cook for a minute or so then add the chopped mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms until there’s no moisture left. This make take 10 to 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Preheat oven to 180 C.
- When the mushrooms are done combine the remaining ingredients and place them in a food processor. Pulse until all ingredients are combined. Shape mixture into 12 meatballs. Spray with a little olive oil and bake for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile prepare the sauce. Heat some olive oil in a pan and add the garlic and onion and cook until slightly brown. Add the passata, fresh herbs, chilli and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring sauce to a boil then lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes.
- When meatballs are ready place them in the sauce and serve with quinoa or pasta.
Any thoughts?