Freefromers! Do you ever find it difficult to make dishes to cater for everybody? How do you cope with that?
My strategy has been to get very busy with cooking and recipe development – but then I have always liked cooking – especially for a group! This recipe was born out of trying to find a homemade veggie/vegan ‘meatball recipe that was also gluten-free. I couldn’t find one – so it was up to me!
Most of the ingredients are cheap and can be found at larger supermarkets – the only exception might be nutritional yeast, which you could replace with parmesan or grana padano if you eat dairy. If you don’t, nutritional yeast really is worth the investment – a lot goes a long way and it is brilliant for adding a cheesy, savoury flavour to all sorts of dishes.
N.B. If cost isn’t an issue or you have stuff to use up, try giving these an extra flavour boost with fresh herbs!
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
‘Meatballs’
- 1 tin/400g chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ½ cup/68g pitted black olives
- 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
- ½ cup/60g oats
- 1 heaped tsp garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp dried mixed herbs
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- pepper to taste
Tomato Sauce
- 1 Tbsp oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tins/800ml chopped tomatoes
- 3 Tbsp tomato puree
- 1 Tbsp dried mixed herbs
- 1 tsp coconut sugar or sweetener of choice (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
METHOD
- Place the chickpeas and olives on a baking tray and place in the cold oven.
- Preheat the oven to 180C, allowing the chickpeas and olives to dry out (this will depend how fast your oven heats up but mine took about 15 mins). You want most of the surface moisture gone but don’t let them get too crispy.
- Meanwhile, use the flaxseed to make a flax egg by mixing with 3 Tbsp of water and setting aside.
- Place the oats in a food processor and whizz to make a rough flour.
- Add the chickpeas and olives, along with the rest of the meatball ingredients, except the flax egg, and process until combined.
- Add the flax egg and process again. The mixture should form a firm dough. Shape into small balls (makes about 12-16) and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes until crisp on the outside.
- While the meatballs bake, make the sauce. Gently sauté the onion on a low heat for 5 minutes in a covered saucepan. Add the garlic and stir.
- Follow by adding the remaining ingredients and increasing the heat. When the mixture is bubbling nicely, reduce the heat and cover. Simmer for around 15 minutes.
- Add the meatballs and stir together for a few minutes until serving on a bed of pasta or mash.
