Baked chickpea and halloumi no-meat balls
- Published: 14 Feb 18
- Updated: 18 Mar 24
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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Serves 6
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Hands-on time 1 hour, Oven time 10-15 min, simmering time 20 min, plus chilling
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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.
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- Recipe from January 2018 Issue
Nutrition
Nutrition: per serving
- Calories
- 325kcals
- Fat
- 12.1g (3.8g saturated)
- Protein
- 12g
- Carbohydrates
- 32.5g (7.8g sugars)
- Fibre
- 6.5g
- Salt
- 0.8g
delicious. tips
The halloumi adds a salty-tangy flavour and helps the balls stick together when baking.
Make the balls and sauce (up to the end of step 3) up to 48 hours ahead. Chill separately. Brown, then bake the balls and serve in the reheated sauce.
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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.