Vegetarian Meatballs

By LEP04

When I first decided to become
a vegetarian, I would still salivate at the smell of homemade
hamburgers and BBQ ribs cooking on the grill. Although I sometimes
longed for a cheeseburger, the one dish I really craved was spaghetti and meatballs. After trying a few meat substitution products and
finding them sub par, I decided that I would simply have to be more
creative with my meals. But I still wanted meatballs. So, I decided
to try and create my own version of the meatball, sans-meat. It took
a few attempts, but the recipe you'll find below is about as close as
you'll ever get to the real thing!

Ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and thoroughly
• mashed (I find a potato masher works well)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 a yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup of oatmeal (I use Quaker's
• instant 1 minute variety)
• 1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce (or
• feel free to make your own)
• 1/2 box of spaghetti

Details

Adapted from celiag16.hubpages.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a
baking sheet with foil and spray with non stick spray (I like to use
Crisco spray because it is alcohol free).

2. Combine all the ingredients (except
for the spaghetti and sauce) in a large bowl. Ingredients should be
well mixed and you should not see any whole chickpeas.

3. Roll tablespoons of the mixture in
your hands to create small balls and place them on the baking sheet.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until the vegetarian meatballs are browned on
the outside (it is better to under cook than overcook these because
they can quickly dry out).

4. While the vegetarian meatballs are
baking, cook the pasta according to the package directions and heat
the tomato sauce in a large pan on medium heat.

5. Making sure the sauce is nice and
hot, put the vegetarian meatballs into the sauce and stir them until
well covered. Serve sauce and vegetarian meatballs over a nice bowl
of spaghetti. Add a little Parmesan to the top if you wish.

Note: Saute the onions (and add garlic) before adding them to the mashed garbanzo beans, then I will put the whole mix into the food processor for a few minutes to really mix the ingredients well.