Vegan meatballs

[Andrew Gubb]

I just wrote this recipe up for my recipe site and thought it was so good it was worth sharing. I really think this recipe could convert someone who was on the wall and worried about missing out on his favourite foods. I bet I could even get someone not to notice it wasn't meat

I blow my own trumpet, but I really love this recipe. Tell me how it was for you if you try it.

These meatballs are the best. Really the best, everyone loves them. I wanted to make a vegan meat substitute so good, and so easy, that anyone who preferred to kill cows than eat these would have to be a sadist. Packed full of flavour, rich and filling too. I think this is the best vegan meat I've ever had. If I say so myself

The base of this stuff is puréed lentils, not tofu (highly toxic) or seitan (indigestible and overly processed). I think it's a very healthy recipe. Lentils, apart from having a dark meaty appearence and a rich meat-like flavour, have at least as much protein as beef, and about 3 times as much iron. According to Wikipedia, <i>Health</i> Magazine has rated lentils among the 5 most healthy foods.

The sesame seeds in this recipe contain about 10 times the amount of calcium as their weight in milk too - and plant sources are much more easy for the body to absorb than milk - so don't go around saying vegans don't eat well, ya bastard.


Vegan meatballs made with lentils, almonds and sesame seeds.

For 3-4 people.

Ingredients:

(I measured all of the components in a measuring jug, by volume, because my scales aren't working. You know, I think it's easier like that - who knows, I may be starting a revolution in how recipes are presented).

200 ml dry brown lentils.

500 ml water

100 ml soy sauce

1 medium onion

250 ml almonds

100 ml sesame seeds

100 nori seaweed in flakes (optional)

3 medium or leaning towards large carrots, grated

Two really compact fistfuls of fresh parsley. This will look like a lot when it uncompacts itself from your fist -- it's meant to, this is a parsley-packed dish.

About half a teaspoon of salt should be enough after all that soy sauce - do this by taste though

And a good dash of black pepper.

So, dump all the ingredients except the carrot and the parsley in a saucepan and start cooking them all together. We're really trying to cook the lentils and the onion here, so you can start those cooking first and then add the rest as you go about measuring them, to save time.

When the lentils have absorbed most of the water (they don't need to have absorbed all, and if you do this before they have done so you can avoid them sticking to the bottom of the pan by accident), leave them to cool for ten minutes. Then add the fresh parsley, take out your trusty hand blender, and make a purée out of all of this. It's nice to have the almonds still in fragments which you can feel in your mouth instead of total purée, but you don't want them to be almond-sized fragments, either. Just make sure the parsley is well blended. (The good thing about this way is you don't need to chop up the parsley... yawn).

When you're sure you've blended this all well, finally add the grated carrot.

Congratulations! You have a delicious lentil vegan meat mixture. Try some. Offer some for your mother to try.

Now, we want to fry this up. The amount I've described will fill up about two frying pans. Mould the mixture into flattened meatballs, and shallow fry until crunchy on both sides.

You can serve this with a tomato sauce boiled up with courgette slices like I did, served with alfalfa sprouts on the side. You can have them with pasta too. On that note, a vegan bolognese recipe is in order

Enjoy guys! I look forward to your feedback!

Andrew

Love,

Andrew

[antoanette]

Looks very tasty. Gonna try to make it this week. Thanks for the recipe.

[aelle]

This looks fairly similar to my fav beanball/lentil ball recipe from Veganomicon, except mine also has tomatoes and garlick. They're yummmmmy.

Where did you get that tofu is highly toxic? and seitan overly processed? A lot of people I know make their own seitan, it looks no more processed to me than any homemade baked or cooked food...

[antoanette]

Yeah. I also wanted to ask about the toxic tofu. Do you have a source for that.

[Andrew Gubb]

Originally Posted by aelle

This looks fairly similar to my fav beanball/lentil ball recipe from Veganomicon, except mine also has tomatoes and garlick. They're yummmmmy.

Where did you get that tofu is highly toxic? and seitan overly processed? A lot of people I know make their own seitan, it looks no more processed to me than any homemade baked or cooked food...

Well seitan is processed in that it's just the protein of the wheat, seperated out from the rest of it. As we know white flour is supposed to be very bad for you, and seitan is one step more refined than that. Gluten, wheat protein, itself is pretty bad - hard to digest - I avoid it.

As for soy, I started a big discussion about it here ages ago. Here is one of the people who brought me over to this POV: Soy Demineralizes Bodies

I also found that soy caused reactions in me and really disagreed with my intuition.

Andrew

[Andrew Gubb]

Originally Posted by antoanette

Looks very tasty. Gonna try to make it this week. Thanks for the recipe.

I hope it turns out well for you! Thanks for reading

[SnerpGoodWord]

Sounds good!

[Andrew Gubb]

Originally Posted by SnerpGoodWord

Sounds good!

Thanks ^_^

[Nameless One]

That looks really good. I love my lentil (instead of ground meat) tacos, and with those additional ingredients I know I'd love that.

[Andrew Gubb]

Originally Posted by Nameless One

That looks really good. I love my lentil (instead of ground meat) tacos, and with those additional ingredients I know I'd love that.

Thanks Give it a try some time and tell me how it went

Andrew

[Lauxa]

Thanks Andrew, this recipe looks like it is definitely worth a try. I'm so happy to see that the meatballs can made without bread crumbs to hold them together. I'm going to try it soon and see if the kids will eat them.

And I will be bookmarking your recipe site, you are showcasing exactly the type of recipes I have been looking for. Thank you!

[Andrew Gubb]

Originally Posted by Lauxa

Thanks Andrew, this recipe looks like it is definitely worth a try. I'm so happy to see that the meatballs can made without bread crumbs to hold them together. I'm going to try it soon and see if the kids will eat them.

And I will be bookmarking your recipe site, you are showcasing exactly the type of recipes I have been looking for. Thank you!

Thanks to you Lauxa! Enjoy!

The meatball mix is fairly soft, making it necessary to shallow fry and not deep fry - the deep fried ones don't hold together. But I think they are good without breadcrumbs, yes

[Reverend Keith]

I rather assume the almonds are raw, not roasted? Just checking. Don't want to ruin a lot of almonds ;-)

And for dessert - here's a recipe for avocado-based raw vegan chocolate mousse I just tried that I posted here on my site. Of course, although this is in a cookbook that claims to be "raw", cocoa powder or even carob powder is technically heat processed, I believe. Oh well, a few indulgences.

This version makes 2 servings:

1/4 cup pitted medjool dates, soaked

1/4 cup pure maple syrup or agave nectar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

3/4 cup mashed ripe avocados (about an avocado and a half)

1/4 cup plus two tablespoons unsweetened cocoa or carob powder

1/4 cup water

Put the dates, maple syrup and vanilla (if desired) in a food processor with an “S” blade and process until smooth. Add the avocado and the cocoa powder and process until creamy, scraping down from the sides as needed. Add the water and process briefly. Store in a sealed container. It keeps several days in the fridge or up to a week in the freezer.

Tastes rich and a tad exotic - but you would never guess it was primarily avocados. Not that I mind avocados...

P.S. Great site. Our family is trying hard to go vegan this year and your recipes are just what we need.

[Andrew Gubb]

Hi Rev! Nice to see you about here

Originally Posted by Reverend Keith

I rather assume the almonds are raw, not roasted? Just checking. Don't want to ruin a lot of almonds ;-)

They were roasted in this recipe, because that's what there was. I know, I know, sorry

And for dessert - here's a recipe for avocado-based raw vegan chocolate mousse I just tried that I posted here on my site. Of course, although this is in a cookbook that claims to be "raw", cocoa powder or even carob powder is technically heat processed, I believe. Oh well, a few indulgences.

Tastes rich and a tad exotic - but you would never guess it was primarily avocados. Not that I mind avocados...

Hmm! My friend kate does a pudding with avocadoes, bananas and cocoa which she calls "ABC". Both sound really good! Thanks, I might try this...

P.S. Great site. Our family is trying hard to go vegan this year and your recipes are just what we need.

Thanks Enjoy!

[blossom]

DAMN that sounds soooo yummy Rev Keith! I'm not vegan, but I'll definately give that one a whirl.

Originally Posted by Reverend Keith

I rather assume the almonds are raw, not roasted? Just checking. Don't want to ruin a lot of almonds ;-)

And for dessert - here's a recipe for avocado-based raw vegan chocolate mousse I just tried that I posted here on my site. Of course, although this is in a cookbook that claims to be "raw", cocoa powder or even carob powder is technically heat processed, I believe. Oh well, a few indulgences.



Tastes rich and a tad exotic - but you would never guess it was primarily avocados. Not that I mind avocados...

P.S. Great site. Our family is trying hard to go vegan this year and your recipes are just what we need.