Appetizer

Oat VEGAN balls

VEGAN, VEGETARIAN, NUT-FREE, GLUTEN-FREE

Meatballs or ‘vegballs’ are an extremely versatile ‘keep at hand’ food item that can be re-purposed in a variety of ways. It can be served as-is as an appetizer. Or, top it off on a hardy, pasta dish. Both creamy pastas and saucy spaghetti can take a good vegball mixed in. How about a cool ‘kofta’ curry a.k.a Indian ‘special’ dish. 

These vegballs can be made ahead of time and frozen so you can pull them out in a jiffy. 

We have one main ingredient in these balls – Oats. These balls are made primarily with oats soaked in oat milk and mixed with loads of veggies. It has a nice ‘oaty’ aroma and a good chewy texture.

This dish can also be made gluten-free if you use gluten-free oats. 

Carrots and potatoes form the binder along with crumbled bread pieces for the chewiness. I used multi-color baby carrots to provide a rich color. 

The main flavor profile is basil leaves; this keeps the aroma ‘Italian’ if you may! By all means, use any herb of choice; just use plenty of them. 

I simply rolled the balls in plain rice flour and pan-fried them til they were golden. 

You can also air-fry them; They come out equally delicious and crunchy. 

I am going to try to make a nice creamy kofta curry with these balls next. What are you planning to use them in? 

Try these other Italian dishes as well –

Baked Tofu “veg” balls

Italian Spread – orzo mushroom risotto, ’caulipower’ penne and roasted mini peppers

Oat ‘meat’ VEG Balls

Meatballs or ‘vegballs' are an extremely versatile ‘keep at hand’ food item that can be re-purposed in a variety of ways. It can be served as-is as an appetizer, pastas and probably as a koftha curry too! These vegballs can be made ahead and frozen so you can pull them out in jiffy. 
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: Fusion
Servings: 12 Balls

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Oats
  • 1 cup Oat milk
  • 2 large Potatoes boiled and crumbled
  • 3 Carrots multi-color boiled and crumbled
  • 2 Bread Slices toasted and broken into pieces
  • 1 small Onion chopped
  • 1/2 cup Peppers mixed-colors diced
  • 3 pods Garlic chopped
  • Basil chopped
  • 1 tsp Pasta seasoning
  • Salt
  • Rice Flour dusting

Instructions

  • Soak the oats in oat milk for minimum of 30 minutes
  • Coarsely crumble the oats, they should be practically dry after absorbing all the milk
  • Next mix all the listed ingredients except Rice flour one by one and make into a nice dough 
  • Roll into balls of desired size and dust in plain rice flour
  • Pan fry to a crisp golden color
  • Cool complete and freeze as needed 

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