Fake meatballs with Zucchini and tomato sauce

And we're back! Now actually one of us is studying to be a cook so recipes in our household are developing quickly. This fake meatball recipe has been on our test kitchen quite a few times, just to find out the perfect taste and texture. I love meatballs and the battle first started when I challenged Z to make real meatballs and "meatballs" from soybean meal. And then I would be the judge which ones would be the best. Nowaydays I don't even want to eat real meatballs anymore, these are my favorites.

This dish is a tribute to the classic Italian meatball pasta dish but with a vegetarian twist. The delicious soya meal balls, the tasty and rich tomato sauce that has been cooked for hours and lighter version to replace the pasta: zucchini slices.

Music for this recipe

Fake meatballs (soybean meal balls) with Zucchini and perfect tomato sauce 
for 4


The balls:
6 dl of light or dark or mixed soybean meal (granules)
1 vegetable stock cube
water
1/2 dl olive oil
1 onion
3-5 garlic cloves
1/4 of Habanero chili
fresh herbs of your taste (basil, coriander, rosemary...)
salt
pepper
1/2 packet Philadelphia-cheese
1 egg

Tomato sauce:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
1 tsp honey
about 15 cherry tomatoes
4 dl tomato passata (puree)
fresh basil
1,5 dl red wine
2 dl almond milk
salt
pepper

Zucchini:
2 large zucchinis
salt
water


Do the balls:  Put the soybean meals into a large bowl and crush the vegetable stock cube there too. Add plenty of water so that all the granules are under the water. Let them just soak there for half an hour. Meantime you can chop the onion to little bits and sauté it on a pan. Also chop the garlics, chili and herbs. Mix oil, onion, garlic, chili, herbs, salt and pepper in a bowl. After the granules have soaked up take balls between your hands and squeeze all the water out of it. Then add the soybean granules to the bowl with oil-spice-mix. The point is that we do not want extra water to the soybean meal ball mixture. Blend it all together. Add 1/2 packet of Philadelphia and one egg to the mixture and mix it all up. Taste the dough and add spices if you want. Leave the mixture to rest in a refrigerator for an half an hour.

Heat the oven to 175 degrees. Roll the balls and place in a baking tray. Bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes.

Tomato sauce: Put oil on the pan and chop the onion and garlic and sautée them. Add the honey to make the taste a bit caramelized. Half the cherry tomatoes and add to the pan. Fry a bit, no too much. Add the tomato passata (Mutti is the one we use), red wine, handful fresh basil leaves, salt and pepper. Let the sauce simmer in a low temperature for an hour or two depending how patient you are. The taste just gets better depending on how long you let it simmer. You can actually do the sauce first and while waiting for it do the balls or just drink the red wine. When you're done with the waiting check the taste and add the almond milk to soften the taste a bit. Add more basil leaves on top.

Zucchini: Rinse the zucchinis and slice them lenghtwise just like you would make tagliatelle. Peeler is great for this! Put a kettle full of water and a pinch of salt in it and on a stove to make it boil. When the water boils, add the zucchini slices. Now you have to be quick, because we want the zucchini to be al dente. So just put them there, max. 20-30 seconds depending on the thickness of the slices. Then take them away and drain.

After all these are done it's time to eat! Add the zucchini slices on a pasta plate, then the balls and add the beautifully rich tomato sauce on top. Then sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. And there you have the perfect fake meatball, fake pasta dish that is simply delicious and you want be feeling as quilty after this (compared to eating a real meatball pasta dish).