These are by far the best “meat free – meatballs” I have ever made! The consistency is really similar to regular meatballs, thanks to the combination of cooked brown rice and mushrooms. To add that lovely cheesy flavour I have used nutritional yeast which works perfectly in this recipe. These “meatballs” are really versatile and they work really well with tomato sauce and pasta dishes of if you want a lighter and fresher recipe.
I love serving them with and tangy avocado creams on a bed of carrot and courgette noodles.
To add that extra goodness I have used Udo’s Choice Beyond Greens Powder which is a blend of organic barley, oat wheat and alfalfa grasses combined with algae - it is particularly rich in vitamin K, vitamin B12, folic acid, iodine and iron.
METHOD:
Place the mushroom, carrot, garlic and onion into a food processor. Pulse for few seconds until you have a crumbly mixture. Make sure you don't over process as you don’t want to end up with a puree!
Heat up 1 teaspoon of oil in pan, add the mushroom mixture and cook it a medium heat stirring from time to time for about 6-8 minutes until the onion has soften and all the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated.
In a bowl mix together the ground almond, brown rice, nutritional yeast, dried & fresh herbs, salt and black pepper. Add the tamari sauce, tahini and the cooked mushroom mixture. Stir everything together until you should have a quite dense dough. If the mixture is too dry add a splash of water. If it’s too wet add more ground almond or breadcrumbs.
With your hands scoop out about 1 tablespoon of the mixture and roll it into small balls. Coat them with the breadcrumbs. To cook the “meatballs” you can either cook them on a frying pan for a couple of minutes each sides or you can bake them in oven for 20 minutes. Just make sure you bake them on a baking tray covered with parchment paper otherwise they will stick to the bottom.
Once they are cooked let them cool down. They hold the shape so much better if eaten the next day after being refrigerated overnight.
To make the sauce simply place all the ingredients into a blender and blend until everything is smooth and creamy. Add more a bit more water if your blender is struggling.
I love serving them on a bed of carrot and courgette noodles with a generous dollop of the green sauce.
