Baked chickpea and halloumi no-meat balls
- Portion size: Serves 6
- Hands-on time 1 hour, Oven time 10-15 min, simmering time 20 min, plus chilling
- Difficulty: easy
No meat? No problem. These chickpea meatballs include halloumi and make for a satisfying, tasty veggie alternative. Enjoy them cooked in a rich tomato sauce for ultimate flavour.
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Ingredients
- 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- Grated zest and juice 1 lemon
- 1 medium free-range egg
- 1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for frying
- 40g fresh breadcrumbs
- 250g cooked quinoa
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 150g halloumi, grated
- Bunch fresh dill, finely chopped
- Bunch fresh parsley, finely chopped
- Bunch fresh coriander, finely chopped
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 200ml red wine
- 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
- Sumac and natural yogurt to serve
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Method
- Put the chickpeas in a blender or food processor and whizz with the lemon zest and juice, egg and olive oil. Tip into a mixing bowl and stir in the breadcrumbs, quinoa, garlic, ground coriander, 100g of the halloumi, half the chopped herbs and some salt and pepper.
- With wet hands, form the mixture into 12 even balls and set aside on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Chill for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat a little oil in a shallow flameproof casserole or large ovenproof frying pan and cook the onion for 10 minutes until softened. Add the vinegar and red wine and bubble for 2 minutes. Pour in the tomatoes and simmer for 20 minutes until thickened.
- Heat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas 7. Heat a glug of oil in a frying pan and fry the balls for 5 minutes (in 2 batches if the pan isn’t large) until browned all over.
- Nestle the no-meat balls in the tomato sauce, grate over the remaining 50g halloumi and bake for 10-15 minutes. Serve sprinkled with the remaining herbs and a little sumac, with yogurt to dollop.
Nutrition
- 325kcals Calories
- 12.1g (3.8g saturated) Fat
- 12g Protein
- 32.5g (7.8g sugars) Carbs
- 6.5g Fibre
- 0.8g Salt
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Reviews
This was a delicious dish although I did add a tbsp of dark brown sugar to the tomato sauce (most tomato sauces benefit from the addition of a little sweetness) as it was very bitter with the wine and vinegar. It was very yummy.
While the balls themselves were nice, i did not like the sauce. May try it with a different sauce next time.
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