Brinjal balls
A healthy version of ‘meatballs’ made with brinjals is great for a spaghetti and meatballs dish, on its own as a quick snack, as part of a platter of finger foods, or added to pitas or wraps.
Ingredients
- 1 x large / 2 x medium eggplants
- 1 x medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 ½ cups roughly chopped fresh basil and coriander (or 2-3 tablespoons dried mixed herbs)
- 1 x tablespoon olive oil
- ¾ cup breadcrumbs
- ½ cup of oats
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 x teaspoon smoked paprika
- 3 x cloves of garlic
- 1 x chia egg (consisting of 1 tablespoon chia seeds and 3 x tablespoon water)
- 1 x tablespoon hot English mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Pepper to taste
Optional:
- Chillies (fresh chopped or dried flakes to taste)
- ½ teaspoon Liquid Smoke
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius
- Line a baking tray with a baking sheet and put one side
- Chop eggplant into 2cm chunks
- Heat olive oil over medium heat and add your eggplant and fry until they get some colour.
- Add 1/4 cup water and sauté until the water is gone.
- Keep frying eggplant until they are dark brown (if some pieces are almost burnt, it’s fine, this adds a lovely smokey flavour).
- Now add your eggplant and all the other ingredients to the food processor (don’t overfill, rather do two blendings with half of the other ingredients each time).
- Let it process until you have a roughly textured batter, but do not overprocess.
- Roll the meatball mixture into balls using about a big, heaped tablespoon of the mix.
- Expert tip:
Lightly wetting your hands with some water before rolling each balls helps the mixture not to stick - Place on the paper on a baking tray.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes (turning every 10 minutes), or until meatballs are browned and crispy on the outside.
- Once your balls are ready, add them to your sauce and heat it all the way through.
- Serve on your cooked pasta and enjoy!
WHAT IS A CHIA EGG?
You take 1 x tablespoon chia seeds and 3 x tablespoon water and put it all in a small bowl o cup. Stir and let it sit for about 5 minutes. It will become like a gel – that means its ready to use in any recipe as you would use a regular egg – just minus the cruelty!