A couple of weekends ago on a ‘lazy’ Saturday morning (I do try but I just can’t do ‘lazy’ as I just end up being fidgety if I sit still for too long!) the boy set me a challenge ‘can you make me a meatball sub’ ….(wait there’s more)…. ‘but not just any meatball sub, I want vegan meatballs with marinara sauce, jalapeno peppers, caramelised onions and sweetcorn, all wrapped up in a nice big homemade sub roll’

Ok- the challenge was set! First I needed to do my research and figure out a healthy, tasty fool-proof ‘meat’ ball recipe.  The one I settled on was based on a recipe by 'My Vegan Cookbook' with a few minor tweaks of my own.

It took me most of the morning but we got there in time for lunch. Oh yeah it was good!!  I had made a double batch of everything (except the veg) so I had leftovers to freeze for ‘round two’ another time.  The meatballs are great to freeze so I’d encourage you to make the full batch as below (or even double) and freeze the remainder for a quick and easy spaghetti dish at another time. There is also a fair bit of work involved in pre-cooking the rice and lentils, another good reason to make a big batch! 

Recipe: vegan ‘meatballs’

Serves 3-4

Makes approx. 12 balls

Ingredients

• ½ cup cooked lentils
• 1 cup cooked brown rice
• ¼ cup oats
• 1/3 cup wheatgerm
• 1 tbs ground flax
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 2 tbs oilve oil
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/3 cup wholemeal spelt flour (or standard wholemeal flour)
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• a pinch of nutmeg
• ½ tsp chilli powder
• ½ tsp parika/cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp molasses (increase this to 2 tsp if you like a stronger taste but personally I find it overpowering)
• 2 tsp mustard
• 1 tsp smoky chipotle pepper sauce (gives the balls a spicy smoky kick but don’t worry if you can’t get hold of it)

Method

Mix everything together in a large bowl. Mixture should be sticky but manageable. From apricot sized balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 180C for 25- 30 minutes turning over half way through.

For frozen meatballs, place on a baking sheet and cook at 180C for approx. 20 minutes straight from the freezer.

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