Vegan Black Bean Meatballs

You'll make quick work making these meatless meatballs if you have a simple food processor; just add all the ingredients and whizz them together, roll them up, and let them chill to firm up. Please don't skip this step, as you'll want them to rolling around in the pan browning up so that when you add the sauce, they don't fall apart or go mushy. This happened to me once, so heed my warning! 

Nutritionally speaking, black beans are also a great meat replacement as they are loaded with plant-based protein!

• 100 grams of Black Beans contain 63.25 grams of carbohydrates, 15.5 grams of fiber, 21.25 grams of protein, 9 milligrams of sodium, and 11 grams of water.
• Black turtle Beans have 0 milligrams of Cholesterol and 0.9 grams of fat.
• 100 grams of Black turtle Beans contain 339 calories, the 17% of your total daily needs.

For this recipe, I cooked up the black beans from dry. Although you do not need to do this, I prefer to use dried beans to save on waste, and it's much more cost-effective. There are two main methods I use for preparing dried beans.

• Overnight Method: Place your dried beans in a large bowl as the beans will double and cover with 3 inches of water. Let them soak overnight. The next day, rinse and drain them well, transfer to a pot, cover with fresh water, and boil away until cooked, adding more water if necessary.
• Quick Soak Method: Place beans in a large pot and cover with water. Bring this to a rolling boil for a few minutes. Turn off the heat, place a lid on top and leave for a couple of hours. Then, drain and rinse the beans well, add them back to the pot, cover with fresh water, and boil away until cooked, adding more water if necessary. The quick-soaking method may cause beans to break their form, so always revert to the overnight method if you need your beans to remain whole.

Vegan Black Bean Meatballs Recipe

Ingredients

Serves 3-4

Black Bean Meatless Meatballs

• 400g cooked black beans, rinsed and drained (from tin or pre-cooked from dry)
• 1/2 small red onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup oats or oat flour
• 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 2 tbsp chunky salsa or tomato puree
• Handful of fresh coriander or basil
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• Good pinch of salt and ground black pepper
• 1 tsp chili flakes

Oil-Free Marinara Sauce

• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes or 1 carton of passata
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp marmite or soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
• Pinch of salt
• Handful of fresh basil leaves

Vegan Parmesan

• 4 tbsp hemp seeds
• 4 tbsp nutritional yeast

1. Blend oats in a blender or food processor until resembles flour, skip if using oat flour.
2. In a food processor add the beans, and the rest of the ingredients and pulse and then blast on low setting until combined, you want all the beans broken up and all of the flour incorporated.
3. Turn everything out into a large bowl and squeeze the mixture with your hands, if it's a bit dry add 1 tbsp of water at a time until it's easy to form into your balls.
4. Using wet hands and a spoon form your meatless meatballs, I made 15 medium-sized balls. I laid them out on a baking sheet which I placed in the fridge for an hour or so to firm up. Don't skip this step!
5. Once they are firm you're ready to cook them, add a dash of oil to a medium-heat frying pan and add your meatless meatballs. Let them brown slightly on all sides, this will seal them when adding the sauce.
6. As soon as those meatless meatballs are in the pan, start cooking your rice or pasta for serving.
7. Once your meatless meatballs are browned on most sides 5-6 minutes or so, add the sauce ingredients to the meatballs in the pan and heat it through on low-medium until piping hot.

Serve with rice or pasta, vegan parmesan, and fresh basil.

Enjoy!

Recipe by Rose Wyles - The Vegan Nutritionist

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