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.
Any thoughts?