We had a rare situation at home today – warring factions over what to eat for dinner ! My partner wanted my ‘Keftethes’, whilst my daughter wanted spicy pizza. The only answer ? To keep them both happy by serving spicy ‘meatballs’ on something close to a pizza – well, in this case, pitta bread – which I first covered with a delicious hot tomato sauce. Both of them went crazy, and I had the solution – and I enjoyed them too, even if I say so myself !
Serve with pitta bread, grilled or heated in the oven.
INGREDIENTS FOR THE ‘MEATBALLS’
2 slices of brown bread (whizzed into breadcrumbs)
1½ cups vegan mince (ground crumble)
4 vegan sausages (I used Linda McCartney) – if frozen, half thaw them first
2 large cloves garlic
a little salt
2 medium sized white onions, roughly chopped
2 to 3 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
1 tsp curry powder
½ tsp oregano
1 hot red chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp wheat gluten (available in the US from here, and in the UK from here)
INGREDIENTS FOR THE SAUCE
½ kg fresh tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 chopped chilli
a drizzle of agave syrup
2 Tbsp tomato puree/paste
a drizzle of olive oil
salt to taste
METHOD FOR THE BALLS
- Having processed your bread, place it in a bowl and set aside.
- Next, place the sausages and ground mince in your food processor, and process for 15 seconds. Then add the onions and garlic, as well as the remaining ingredients from the balls list (including the breadcrumbs). Process until it all comes together – around 15-20 seconds should do the trick as we are not after a ‘spread like’ consistency, but rather a normal mince one, with good texture and colour.
- Now, using clean hands, form into balls and refrigerate for a half hour, then fry until golden, and set aside whilst you assemble your sauce.
METHOD FOR THE SAUCE
1. Whizz all the sauce ingredients in your food processor until well combined, then pour into a saucepan and on a very low heat allow to simmer until reduced – about 30-40 minutes.
2. Spoon the sauce on to the hot pitta bread, place your ‘meatballs’ on top and garnish with freshly chopped parsley. Enjoy !
All recipes and content © Miriam Sorrell www.mouthwateringvegan.com 2010
I love your recipes, my boyfriend got me your cookbook for my birthday. I just made this recipe, but with noodles instead of the bread. The balls turned out to be pretty awesome, however they fell a little apart while frying them. Is there something I have to pay closer attention to, to make sure they stick together?
Hi there Lena and thanks for dropping by here and so glad you have my book too ! 🙂 these balls are indeed softer than meat ones, that said, if you are after a denser finish you can add more bread and perhaps a little guar gum or egg replacer. Another thing you can do is freeze them before frying for half an hour or a little longer and then roll them in flour prior to frying them. Hope this helps and look forward to your future comments on my blog ! 🙂
Hi Miriam. Thank you for your wonderful recipes. For this one how essential is the wheat gluten? is it a binder and can I substitute.
Many thanks and happy Christmas.
Hi Despina you can add any other vegan thickener of your choice, bear in mind the consistency of the balls is soft-ish.
I have loved your recipes for a long time and have emailed your partner two questions….what spices for the fruit cake and I am not getting copies of your wonderful mag.i will contact him soon…thanks a million for making my vegan life soooo happy.
Lee Hi there, sorry for not replying sooner. Spices that work in the cake would be an all spice mix. Regarding copies of the magazine, there has not been a new issue for a while. So happy you are enjoying my recipes and hope you continue to do so for a long time to come. 🙂
Hi! Thank you for the recipe – they look amazing!
I will be making a large batch of these as vegan substitutes for meatballs for a party. Would baking them work just as well as frying them? I’ll be making a lot of them – close to 50, I suppose – so, frying them all might be difficult.
(I hope you see this message soon as I’ll be cooking them tomorrow! :))
Thanks again!
Siddharth Hi. I would fry them in batches, they seem to hold their form better that way. Hope you make and enjoy them. Cheers ! 🙂