Spaghetti & Meatless Balls
Eating a plant-based diet doesn’t mean you miss out on favourite meals like meatballs. The balls are hearty and flavoursome with a simple, tasty tomato sauce. They are made with lentils, white beans and mushrooms, can be made ahead of time and frozen up to three weeks. I often use the left-over meat balls on burgers with a crisp greens and a drizzle of aioli. Left-over sauce is frozen for meals in a hurry.
Health benefits –
· Lentils are a good source of fibre, protein, complex carbohydrates and iron.
· The high levels of soluble fibre in lentils help reduce blood cholesterol.
SPAGHETTI & MEATLESS BALLS
PB, V, GF
Makes approx. 20 balls
1 cup (60 g) dry spaghetti per person
Meatless balls:
1 brown onion, finely diced
3 portabello mushrooms, finely diced
400 g tin brown lentils, rinse and drain
400 g tin white beans, partly drained and mashed
2 tbsp (32 g) coconut aminos/ tamari
1 tbsp (15 g) tomato paste
handful of fresh oregano, finely chopped OR 2 tbsp dried oregano
½ cup (75 g) breadcrumbs
¼ cup (62 ml.) water
400 g organic tomato and basil sauce
Sauté onion in a little water until it's softened on medium heat. Add ingredients to large bowl and mix together. Roll mixture into small balls with moist hands and place on a lined baking paper.
BAKE - Preheat oven to 180’C. Bake for 15 minutes. Flip the balls and bake a further 15 minutes.
OR FRY - fry the balls in 1 cm grapeseed oil, heat the oil to 180-190’C, once the oil is hot, carefully add balls with a slotted spoon or tongs, turn when golden.
Cook spaghetti in boiling salted water for the given time on the packet. Reserve a 1/2 cup of spaghetti water, drain spaghetti and pour into a serving bowl. Add a little water and tablespoons of dairy free butter and mix well, serve with basil leaves. Heat the sauce and pour into a serving bowl. Place the meatless balls on the sauce. Serve hot.
HOMEMADE TOMATO SAUCE
PB
Tomato sauce:
2 onions
3 garlic cloves
¼ cup olive oil
1 kilo cherry tomatoes
6 cups (700 g) passata
2 springs thyme or oregano leaves
1 bay leaf
pinch of sea salt
Optional extras: handful of basil leaves
Grate onion and garlic cloves to release the acidity, and sauté in a little water for 5 minutes until softened. Add cherry tomatoes and cook down to release sweetness. Add a bottle of passata, thyme or oregano, a bay leaf, sea salt and simmer gently for 30 minutes. May add basil leaves here in the cooking of the sauce. Bottle in sterilised glass jars.