As a kid my mom used to make so many meatballs through the week, as that is super traditional dutch food - potatoes, meat, vegetables - So since I'm not really in to meat anymore, I haven't had meatballs for a very very long time, so making them myself was a really big adventure.
So for NG-Day, Naturally granola day, (15th of July) I wanted to make a special dish instead of just a smoothie bowl. Talking with Tiara from Naturally Granola gave me this insane idea to make vegan meatballs. Swap the breadcrumbs for granola and the egg you use for a Vegan egg, that's it! I'll stop talking and give you the recipe right here!
For the Meatballs:
400gr vegan minced meat
1 cup granola (I used the Naturally granola signature)
1 vegan egg (I use Bob's red mill vegan egg replacer)
2 tbsp water
1 (red) onion
3 cloves garlic
salt/pepper
Fore the Marinara sauce:
800gr tomato sauce
1,5tbsp tomato puree
3 cloves garlic
capers
green olives
sundried tomatoes
basil
chili flakes
salt/pepper
Blend the granola so the granola is basically as big as breadcrumbs. Finely chop the onion and garlic. Make the vegan egg, and let it rest for a few minutes. Meanwhile mix all the other ingredients together in a bowl, add the egg and knead everything together. Roll some balls, I made sixteen. Heat some oil in the pan and bake the meatballs in there, add some warm water and close off with a lit. Keep on checking and turn them a bit, when the water dissolves too fast add a little more warm water so they're slightly under water.
Heat a pan again with some olive oil, chop the garlic and sauté it for a little, then add the rest of the ingredients and cook until it gets thicker. Cook some pasta as a side dish
When the meatballs are cooked, the pasta is all dente and the marinara sauce is as thick as you like, turn off the fire and start plating! I love to throw some extra olive oil over, add some (vegan) parmesan cheese, pepper, salt and some extra basil, and voila!