Author: Kate Ford | The Veg Space
Ingredients
For the 'meat'balls:
100 g frozen peas
1 onion
2 tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil (plus extra for frying)
1 tsp ready-chopped garlic / garlic purée
2 carrots
1 red pepper
large handful curly kale
400 g tin chickpeas
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes (optional)
1 tsp vegetable stock powder
2 tbsp gram flour
a little plain flour for dusting
For the sauce:
1 tbsp dairy-free margarine
1 tbsp plain flour
200 ml dairy-free milk (soya, nut or oat)
125 ml boiling water
1 tsp vegetable stock powder
125 ml dairy-free cream (soya or oat)
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
soy sauce
Instructions
Cook the peas in the microwave or small saucepan for 2 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool.
Peel the onion and cut into quarters, then use a mini-chopper or food processor to chop it finely, (or chop as finely as you can by hand).
Heat the oil in a large lidded frying pan or casserole, and add the onion and garlic. Cook over a medium heat.
Peel the carrots and cut roughly into 4-5 chunks, then chop finely in the mini-chopper/food processor and add to the pan with the onions. Next, de-seed and chop the peppers in the same way, followed by the cooked peas and curly kale. Let all the vegetables cook over a medium heat.
Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then blitz to a smooth purée along with the olive oil in the mini chopper or food processor. Add to the pan, then sprinkle over the nutritional yeast flakes, stock powder, gram flour and a generous seasoning of salt and pepper. Mix all the ingredients together, then remove from the heat, and set aside until cool enough to handle.
Sprinkle a chopping board and your hands with a little flour, then scoop up a heaped teaspoon of mixture, roll it firmly into a ball in your hands and place on the chopping board. Repeat until all the mixture has been used up - you should have around 20 'meat'balls.
Cover the bottom of a large frying pan with rapeseed or sunflower oil, and fry the meatballs, turning regularly until they are golden brown all over. Remove from the frying pan to a plate covered in kitchen paper, to drain excess oil.
To make the sauce, heat the margarine in a small saucepan, stir through the flour and cook over a gentle heat for 2 minutes. Add the dairy-free milk , water, stock powder and dairy-free cream, and cook stirring continually until a thick, glossy sauce consistency has been reached. Add the mustard and stir, then add a few drops of soy sauce at a time, tasting as you go, until a good level of seasoning has been reached.
Serve the meatballs with the sauce poured over the top, with mashed potato or oven chips.