Vegan lentil "meat"balls in tomato sauce

I had left over spaghetti in the fridge from the pasta dish that I made a few nights ago, so I decided to make some "meat"balls. To be honest, I like spaghetti bolognese more but hey, the point of my blog is try new things, and I'm always up for doing something new :)

I found a super simple recipe for lentil "meat"balls from the website Vegan Sandra. Although there were so many different recipes for lentil balls, the reason why I chose this one is because it was the only recipe that I had all the ingredients for. That's how it is when I don't have time to go grocery shopping. I just jump on Google and hope that someone somewhere has come up with a recipe using the same ingredients that I've got in my kitchen. 

I'm a huge fan of pasta, so this was a great dinner for me. Hearty and delicious. Unfortunately I had to eat it in 10 minutes because I didn't want to be late for the movie that Peter and I were going to see tonight. Even though I didn't get as much as I wanted to sit and savour the flavours, it was still yummy.

Peter and I went to watch Pacific Rim today. I really didn't have any expectation that it would be great, but I heard that the robots were awesome, and who can resist robots? Not Peter and I. 

I was pleasantly surprised at the fact that it wasn't as disappointing as I thought it would be. I didn't really think much of the dialogue and the Australian accents made me laugh, but the action scenes were truly great. Every now and then I could feel Peter jumping up with excitement during the fight scenes. Love that Kid.

I actually didn't mind paying to see this movie. Robots fighting monsters on the big screen with sound blasting from every wall. Good stuff. I give it 6.5/10. And yes, the CGI (Computer-generated imagery) was great!

Vegan Lentil Balls

Serves 6

Ingredients
Lentil balls:

• 250 g green or brown lentils
• 200g  rice (I used basmati)
• 3 tbsp barley flour (or almost any other flour will do)
• 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 5 tbsp bread crumbs
• 3 tbsp quality ketchup or tomato paste
• 1-2 tbsp vegan grill seasoning or something similar
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp vegetable stock powder

Tomato sauce:

• 350 ml tomato juice (I just used a jar of bolognese sauce)
• 1,5 tbsp brown sugar (omit if using ready made bolognese sauce)
• a pinch of salt and ground black pepper
• (3 tbsp vegan cream)
• (fresh herbs for garnish)

Directions

1. Boil the lentils and rice together until they are soft. Drain them really carefully, so there will be no liquids left. 
2. Add flours, bread crumbs, ketchup or tomato paste and seasonings. Mix carefully. Let the dough rest for about 10-15 minutes. Cover the baking tray with a baking paper, form the little balls, put them on a baking tray and bake at 200 C until they are crispy (about 30-40 minutes).
3. For the sauce, heat up the tomato juice with sugar, salt and pepper. Add vegan cream and fresh herbs if you want. Stir, let it boil for a couple of minutes and remove the heat.  
4. Take about 20-25 baked lentil balls, put them in a bowl and pour the tomato sauce over the lentil balls. Serve with spaghetti, mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes, rice or on a sandwich.

Nutmeat spaghetti bolognese

I tried a new vegan meat substitute today. Ok, don't get grossed out. It's called Nutmeat. I first heard about it a while back when a friend told me to try it but just the idea of nuts being made into a meaty textured food product kinda put me off. That was before I started trying all sorts of weirdo foods and flavour combinations. 

A good friend of mine ordered spaghetti bolognese the other day when we went out to dinner, so I had a bit of a craving for it. I've tried plenty of recipes for bolognese sauce. I've used just tomato sauce and blended up vegetables, I've made a cauliflower recipe and I've used tofu as well. All of them have been yum, but this nutmeat recipe has been the best so far. It's much more 'meatier' and because I like my bolognese sauce thick, this recipe is a winner. 

This is the recipe I used which I adapted from a vegan recipe website:

Vegan Nutmeat spaghetti bolognese:

Ingredients:

• 1 Can Nutmeat
• 1 large tin Tomatoes
• 1 jar Pasta Sauce
• 2 Medium Onions (chopped finely)
• 2 cloves Garlic (crushed) - I used 4 because I really love garlic
• 2 Tbspn tomato paste
• 2 Small Carrots (finely chopped)
• 2 cups Broccoli (finely chopped)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano 
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Pasta for serving
• Olive Oil for cooking

Directions:

1. Cook onion & garlic in pan with oil until tender.
2. Chop the nutmeat finely and add this to the onions and garlic along with the tomatoes, pasta sauce and tomato paste and stir together then cook for 5 mins on medium heat.
3. Add finely chopped vegetables and simmer for a further 10 minutes or until cooked through.
4. Add seasonings (salt & pepper) to taste.
5. Serve wtih Spaghetti Pasta

This was another vegan meal that my brother liked. My brother will do anything to avoid fruits and vegetables and so it says aaaaah lot when he likes my vegan recipes. A whole lot.