I’ve been trying to incorporate more vegetables in my diet, and as such I’ve been testing out vegetarian recipes. I made this one last night, and it’s a winner!
The concept of chickpea meatballs was appealing, because my girls love hummus—so the flavor and texture would be somewhat familiar. The added bonus was being able to sneak carrots and zucchini in there—mom win!
Here’s the mixture of meatball ingredients before they were mixed, and formed into balls.
My kids also eat thai curry on a pretty regular basis. I’ve been cooking and perfecting my curry sauce recipe for over four years now, so I was very excited to get to enjoy this delicious flavor alongside something other than chicken! Yay for variety!
Here are the meatballs pre and post baking:
I’d love to say my girls chowed down, but alas…they’re kids and as such, skeptical. They each ate one meatball and filled up on rice and curry sauce. *sigh*
Matt wasn’t home while I was prepping and baking, so he was about half way through his meal, when he asked what I mixed in with the ground pork. HA! Fooled him!!
The upside to the girls not eating much, is that I have a nice little lunch portion for tomorrow. YUM!
Let me know if you make these and how they turn out!
- MEATBALLS
- ¼ cup raw walnut halves
- 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion
- ½ cup minced carrot (from about 1 medium carrot)
- ½ cup minced zucchini (from about 1 medum zucchini)
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- ¼ cup breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
- CURRY SAUCE
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, sliced
- 1 clove of garlic, minced (about 1/2 tsp)
- 2 teaspoons red curry paste
- 2 teaspoons yellow curry powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion salt
- 1 (15-ounce) can of full-fat coconut milk
- 1-2 teaspoons of lime juice (about a quarter of a lime)
- salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Pulse the walnuts in a food processor until finely ground (but not paste!). Transfer to a large bowl. Next, pulse the chickpeas in the food processor until about half of the chickpeas are pureed, but the rest still have some texture. Add to the same large bowl.
- Add the green onion, carrot, zucchini, garlic, breadcrumbs, flour, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to the large bowl. Mix until well combined.
- Add the egg and the worcestershire sauce to the bowl. Mix until everything is well moistened.
- Form the mixture into balls that are about 1 inch in diameter (I used a tablespoon to measure out each meatball). Place chickpea balls on your prepared baking sheet – I get about 20 meatballs.
- Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, until firm and lightly browned.
- Add olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the onion slices and cook until tender. Add in the garlic, quickly followed by the curry paste and dry spices. Stir and toast everything for about one minute. Then slowly pour in the coconut milk. Stir to combine.
- Bring the mixture to a simmer, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Let simmer gently for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, stir in the lime juice, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Place 5-7 meatballs on top of a portion of jasmine rice. Spoon the curry sauce over the meatballs and rice, and garnish with basil leaves and/or lime wedges.
Easy, fast & fun
I'd love to hear what you think!