It's the first week of Lent, which means I owe you a new meatless dish!)) And today that dish is lenten meatballs! It's pretty hard to replicate the taste of meat, but it's worth a try! Legumes are often used for this purpose — chickpeas, beans, lentils — and they're actually quite high in plant-based protein. Today I went with lentils, and green lentils are the way to go — sometimes called brown lentils. Yellow and red lentils are less ideal since they turn to mush quickly and the color isn't quite right either. Be sure to use a sticky variety of rice, since there are no eggs in this recipe and you need something to hold the mixture together. I used jasmine rice; similar varieties like Camolino or any short-grain non-parboiled rice will work just as well. These meatballs turned out incredibly delicious — even for me, a die-hard meat lover, they were really something! And yes, they honestly do taste a little like the real thing!
Ingredients:
- 150 g green lentils
- 100 g rice (sticky variety)
- 100 g onion
- 100 g carrots
- salt, pepper
- spices (I used dried garlic, coriander, thyme)
- vegetable oil (for frying)
- For the sauce:
- 300 ml water
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp flour
- salt, pepper
How to cook lenten lentil meatballs
Soak the lentils in cold water overnight, or for at least 3–4 hours (use warm water if soaking for a shorter time).
Rinse the lentils and drain off all the water. Then finely grind the lentils in a food processor, with a blender, or by running them through a meat grinder twice.
Finely dice the onion and grate the carrots on a fine grater. Add to a skillet with hot oil and sauté until completely soft. Don't skimp on the vegetable oil — the sauté should turn out nice and rich!
Cook the rice ahead of time until almost fully done. I used rice in boil-in-bag pouches — I dropped them into salted boiling water and cooked for 12 minutes. Let the cooked rice cool.
Add the ground lentils and the sautéed vegetables to the rice. Season very generously with salt and pepper, then add the spices — I used about ½ tsp each of garlic and coriander, plus about ⅓ tsp thyme.
In a separate bowl, mix together the tomato paste, sugar, flour, and a little cold water. Season with salt and pepper, then add 300 ml of boiling water. Pour the sauce over the meatballs — they should be covered about halfway. Simmer over low heat with the lid on for 20–25 minutes. Spoon the sauce over each meatball.
Comments