Vegan meatball subs.


A quick and easy follow-up on what to do with my last recipe for vegan-friendly meatballs. This takes about five minutes to make up from start to finish. Add in some onions, spinach or arugula if you fancy.


This recipe uses up the remainder of the tomato paste from the meatball recipe (about 2-3 tbsp), Follow Your Heart mozzarella style shreds and sub buns.

Ingredients I
8 meatballs
2 sub buns
Marinara sauce (recipe below)
Mozzarella style shreds

Marinara Sauce
2-3 tbsp tomato paste
3/4 tsp oregano
3/4 tsp parsley
3/4 tsp basil
3/4 tsp coriander
Salt and pepper to taste
Hot water
Optional: hot pepper flakes

Method
In a cereal bowl, place the tomato paste and spices in, and mix well. Slowly add in hot water until you reach your desired consistency. I like mine a bit richer, so I added about 1/3 cup water.


Set your oven to Convection.  Split open a sub bun, place 4 meatballs down the centre of the bun, followed by marinara sauce, topped with cheese.

Keep in the oven until cheese and bun and toasty hot (or to your liking).

Top with a bit of basil.







Vegan friendly meatballs.




Baked meatballs that hold their form! Finally. Made up of tofu, TVP, vital wheat gluten and a whole heap of spices, these bake up in under 20 minutes with 10 minutes prep time. Because of the hearty amount of spices and small amounts of typical "binders" and meat-substitute staples, you don't get the overwhelming amount of tofu / TVP / VWH which is a welcome change. Allowing these to cool for about 5 minutes will yield a firmer meatball. For storage: Freeze, refrigerate, or eat 'em in a worrisome hurry - it's up to you. To re-heat: bake, fry, or nuke 'em.

This batch makes 25-30, depending on the size. I used a heaping teaspoon of the mixture for mine and got 26.

This recipe takes 1 bowl, a few spoons and a food processor. Not bad! Reserve the extra tomato paste from this recipe and check out my next recipe for Meatball Subs here.

Ingredients I
4 oz extra firm tofu (1/2 cup, or, 1/3 package of Sunrise Extra Firm Tofu)
½ onion
¼ cup sunflower seeds

Ingredients II
¾ cup TVP
1 tsp garlic (freshly minced or jarred)
¼ cup parsley, finely chopped
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp arrowroot powder
½ cup nutritional yeast flakes
¼ cup panko
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp BBQ sauce
1 tbsp vegetable stock powder
1 ½ tsp basil
1 ½ tsp oregano
1 ½ tsp coriander powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp hot chili flakes
¾ tsp fennel seed
¾ tsp mustard powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients III
6 tbsp vital wheat gluten
2-4 tbsp water, reserved

In a food processor, place all of Ingredients I in and select the "chop" function (anything but puree/mince will do). The mixture should resemble something like this:



Next, place this mixture in a bowl and add in Ingredients II. Mix this up a heap until well-combined, and taste test for spices. Add in salt and pepper to your liking. I used 1/2 tsp salt and a big pinch of pepper.

Lastly, add in the vital wheat gluten and stir up until the mixture is good and firm, able to be rolled into balls. Should this mixture be a little dry, add the water in 1 tbsp at a time. I used a total of 2 tbsp water. If your mix is a bit too wet, add in 1-2 tbsp vital wheat gluten.


Roll into balls. I used a heaping teaspoon and rolled up tight. They were about 7/8" in diameter. Grease up a pan (I baked in 2 batches. but feel free to use 2 pans) and fit no more than 6 x 3 meatballs to a pan.


Bake for 10 minutes, flip the meatballs, and bake for 9-10 minutes longer. Remove from oven and let cool.


Serve with pasta, or gravy and mashed potatoes. Enjoy in a sub. Alternatively, brave the storm and create your own IKEA poutine.