Vegetarian Chickpea Balls #EasyRecipe #Vegetarian

Posting a recipe from last year, to the day!

I found a recipe online that was for vegan meatballs that seemed good but too much work. I cannot fathom being vegan because I love cheese too much. Sorry!

So, I recrafted the ingredients, adding some, deleting some and changing things altogether. I am going to tell you right now, they are absolutely delicious!

Ingredients
1 very small onion, minced or ½ cup
1 small carrot, minced or ¼ cup
¼ cup oregano leaves
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15oz can organic chickpeas, drained
1 large egg (for vegan, use full tablespoon white miso paste)
1 tsp garden herb salt or  ½ tsp sea salt and ½ tsp Italian seasonings
1 cup panko crumbs (or vegan substitute)
2/3 cup pecorino cheese, finely grated (or vegan substitute)
Olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pull a medium baking sheet and line with parchment paper.

Coarsely cut the onion and carrot and place in small food processor. Pulse until chopped a bit finer, add the oregano and garlic cloves. I keep roasted garlic in my freezer, so I cut the cloves in half before adding to the processor bowl. Pulse until the mixture is finely chopped. Scrape from processor bowl and add to a medium mixing bowl. Add the chick peas to the processor and pulse, adding olive oil to form a soft but grainy mixture. Add to vegetable mixture.

Clean the processor bowl and add the panko and cheese. Pulse a few times and then add the garden herb salt. Pulse until this resembles finely grated breadcrumbs. Measure 1 ¼ + cup and add to vegetable mixture. Set the remaining panko & cheese mixture, about a ¼ cup, aside in a deep plate. FYI, I use a glass pie plate.

Add the egg to the bowl and mix thoroughly. I use a Starbucks 2 tablespoon round to form the meatballs, so I ended up with 20 balls. Roll each ball in the remaining panko cheese mixture and place balls on baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes, then flip the balls and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until golden.

NOTE: My came out more like a pattie, so pattie it up if that works better for you

While the balls are baking prepare pasta, spaghetti squash or gnocchi. Serve with your choice of sauce! Bon Appétit!

#vegetarian #healthy #freshingredients #recipe