Veggie 'meat' balls with tomato courgetti
This recipe is adapted slightly from an original one in a BBC good food magazine, dated June 2015. It made a relatively simple yet delicious dinner.
Serves 2
vegetarian, dairy free, gluten free
Ingredients
For the 'meat' balls:
oil or fat of your choice
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
100g cooked red kidney beans
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp tomato puree
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground coriander
3 cloves garlic, minced and separated
salt and pepper
15g ground almonds
40g cooked sweetcorn (from a can or frozen would also be fine)
2 tsp thyme leaves, removed from stalks
For the tomato courgetti
2 large or 3 normal tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp tomato puree
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 courgettes cut into noodles with a spiralizer if you have one; alternately you could use a vegetable peeler to cut them into strips
Directions
- Pre-heat your oven to 220c/200c fan/gas 7.
- Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion until soft.
- Add the balsamic and cook for 2 mins.
- Meanwhile, put the beans in a bowl with the egg, tomato puree and spices, and mash until smooth.
- Add the almonds, sweetcorn, thyme, and 1/3 of the chopped garlic.
- Add the cooked onions and mix well. Season to taste.
- Line a baking tray with baking parchment.
- Form the bean mixture into 8 balls and spread out on the baking tray.
- Cook for 15 mins, until firm.
- Meanwhile, put the tomatoes, tomato puree and balsamic vinegar in a pan and cook with 2-3 tbsp. water until pulpy.
- Stir in the remaining garlic and courgetti until they're just warm; you're not really aiming to cook them.
- Serve immediately.
This recipe tastes even better made with vegetables from Community Harvest Whetstone :)