Vegan ‘Meatball’ Recipe | No Seitan, No Gluten, No Tofu

Hello vegan recipes community I've been working on a mostly wholefood plant based recipe for 'meatballs' and here is the result. Lentils cooked in mushroom stock are the base then sundried tomatoes and mushrooms provide some chewiness. Of course you could use something like tvp or seitan to make them properly chewy but I wanted to use mostly wholefood ingredients. I use ground walnuts and flaxseed as a binder instead of flour for a boost of nutrients! The video recipe is below, please give it a watch and let me know what you think. Written recipe is below as well. I've also included a very quick tomato sauce recipe.

Click to watch

Meatball Recipe

Ingredients:
150g uncooked green lentils, rinsed (Also known as french or puy lentils)
600ml mushroom stock (Or vegetable stock with 1 tsp of dark soy sauce)
1 tablespoon olive oil
200g mushrooms (oyster and shiitake work well), roughly chopped
15g dried porcini mushrooms, rehydrated in boiling water
1 onion, finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, zested
50ml red wine (Or 1 tbsp red wine vinegar)
1 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
60g walnuts
60g cooked chestnuts
60g ground flaxseed
3 tbsp dried italian herb seasoning
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
¼ tsp fresh ground nutmeg
2 tsp marmite or dark soy sauce (Use tamari if gluten free)
170g sundried tomatoes, roughly chopped

Method:

• Add the lentils and mushroom stock to a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Drain in a sieve thoroughly and spread onto a baking tray, put to the side to dry and cool down. The liquid from the lentils can be kept for a soup.
• In a medium saucepan, heat up 1 tbsp olive oil over a medium-high heat.
• Add the chopped mushrooms and onion. Fry until the water has evaporated from the mushrooms and they’re caramalised. Zest in the garlic and continue frying for 2 minutes.
• Deglaze the pan with red wine and worcestershire sauce and cook until the mushrooms have a jammy consistency. Transfer from pan to a large bowl.
• Drain and finely chop the dried porcini mushrooms and add to the bowl. The liquid used to rehydrate the mushrooms can be kept for a soup, stew or risotto.
• In a food processor blend the walnuts and chestnuts until the texture or rough sand is achieved. Transfer to the bowl.
• Add the lentils to the food processor and blend until mostly smooth. You may need to scrape the sides of the bowl down a couple times. Add to the bowl.
• Add the ground flaxseed, Italian herb seasoning, nutritional yeast, nutmeg, marmite and sun dried tomatoes to the bowl.
• Mix the ingredients together first with a spoon and then with your hands to distribute the ingredients evenly.
• Place the meatball mixture into the fridge for 20 minutes.
• Remove from the fridge and roll into equal balls. I got 22 meatballs from the mix.
• Heat up a frying pan over a medium heat with 1 tbsp olive oil. Add your meatballs and pan fry for a couple minutes on each side until golden brown all over. Roughly 8-12 minutes total.
• To cook in the oven preheat to 200C. Place your meatballs onto a baking tray and brush lightly with olive oil. Bake for 15-20 minutes turning regularly.
• In the air fryer cook at 180C for 12-15 minutes turn regularly.
• Serve with spaghetti and tomatoes sauce!

Tomato sauce

Ingredients:
1 bay leaf
1 large clove garlic, zested
1 can chopped tomatoes (400g)
10g balsamic glaze
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh basil
1 tbsp olive oil

Method:

• Heat up 1 tbsp olive oil over a medium heat in a saucepan.
• Add the bay leaf followed by the garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes.
• Be careful the garlic doesn’t brown.
• Add the chopped tomatoes. Wash out the can with 50ml of water and add to the pan.
• Using a potato masher squash the tomatoes to give the sauce a smoother texture.
• Add the balsamic glaze and simmer for 8-12 minutes until slightly thickened.
• Finish with salt, pepper and the basil.
• Enjoy