Neatballs

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups (90g) brown mushrooms

1/2 cup (75g) sunflower seeds, soaked for at least one hour

2/3 cup (70g) sun-dried tomatoes, soaked for at least 2 hours

1/3 red onion

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon frehsly squeezed lemon juice

2 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon white miso

splash of soy sauce (or Tamari)

Tomato sauce:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1 garlic clove, crushed

Tiny pinch of ground ginger, cinnamon, paprika, turmeric and all spice

1 tablespoon tomato puree/paste

2 cups (400g) canned chopped tomatoes

1 carrot, grated

1/2 cup (75g) dried apricots, chopped (ideally unsulphured)

1 1/4 cups (300ml) vegetable stock

Pinch of black pepper

To serve:

1 cup (150g) cooked quinoa

1 cup (80g) flaked almonds

a small bunch of fresh mint chopped

Method:

1) Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) Gas 4.

2) Put the mushrooms in a food processor and pulse until you have a mixture that resembles the texture of ground meat. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and set aside.

3) Seperately, pulse all the other neatball ingredients together until you have a smooth but still chunky mixture. Add to the ground mushrooms and mix together by hand.

4) Roll the mixture into meatball-size, place on a baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for about 45 mins - 1 hour, until the outsides are crispy.

5) Meanwhile, to make the tomato sauce, heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the sliced onion, garlic and spices, and fry for 3-5 minutes. Add the tomato puree/paste and cook for another minute. Add the remanining ingredients, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes until thickened.

6) Serve the neatballs with the tomato suace on a bed of quinoa, sprinkled with flaked almonds and chopped mint.

This recipe has been adapted from: Zoe (2015) Plant-Based Paleo

#savoury