Hello everyone, hope you are all doing well. This has been a very busy week for me but at the moment I am enjoying the weekend a lot. In fact, today I have been around the kitchen cooking (what’s new :)) and me and my husband really enjoyed this healthy recipe so I thought it was worth it to share it with you. This is a vegan and vegetarian delicious recipe which requires basic healthy ingredients and it is very simple to make. This vegan meatballs are made with barley, lentils, carrots, leek, tomato, celery and delicious spices, I decided to accompany it with a homemade tomato ketchup sauce. These delicious vegan meatballs are cooked in the oven and not fried so it is definitely a must try.

Cooking time: 90 minutes

Serves: 4 People

To make this delicious recipe you will need:

120 gr of dried pearl barley

400 gr of lentils (I used a can of lentils in water)

2 medium size carrots

1/3 of a leek

1 stalk of celery

50 gr of peeled plum tomatoes

2 Bay leaves

Paprika

Black pepper

Oregano

Olive oil

Salt

For the tomato sauce:

350 of peeled plum tomato

1 clove of garlic

Oregano

A splash of balsamic vinegar

A pinch of sugar

Salt

1 teaspoon of olive oil

The preparation:

First of all, put the barley on a bowl with cold water to rest for about 40 minutes, this process will soften and help it cook faster.

Cut the leek and the celery into very small pieces, then grate the carrots (as shown in the picture) and place them in a deep sauce pan. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a pinch of salt and then turn the heat to medium low to cook the vegetables. Make sure to stir them as they cook.

When the vegetables are soft and cooked, add the barley, the lentils, the tomatoes, the paprika, black pepper, oregano, the bay leaves and after that add water just to cover the surface of the ingredients, turn the heat to medium-high to cook everything together. Add the water as soon as you notice it evaporates. I added the water three times.

Tip: The reason I added water to just cover the surface is to avoid having that boiled taste in the end of the vegetables, instead I treated it more like a risotto this way all the ingredients flavour will blend very well together.

Please let evaporate as much water as you can,this way the vegan meat-less balls will have a better definite shape.

When you are happy with the taste and the consistency of the ingredients, turn the heat off and let them cool for at least 10 min. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 8/450F/230C, then with a blender blend about 60% of the mixture and using your hands, shape the vegan meatballs (don’t worry if they feel a bit sticky they will assume the specific form as they get cooked in the oven.) I put approximately 8 meatballs (size of an egg) on the tray and cook for about 35-40 minutes or until slighty brown. After cooked leave to cool for about 15 minutes before consuming.

For the sauce, all you need to do is put the tomatoes, the garlic, oregano, black pepper, paprika, balsamic vinegar, sugar, salt and olive oil on a bowl, then blend everything until smooth. After that, on a sauce pan add the sauce and 1/2 glass of water and cook on high heat until it starts thickening. And that’s it!

I really hope you will like this very interesting and absolutely delicious recipe which is a different version of the classic lentil meatloaf. You can recreate it for a party as an appetizer ( I am sure no one will miss the meat in eating them), or they are perfect for a yummy pack lunch with some salad.

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Enjoy!

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