Vegan spaghetti and ‘meatballs’

Method:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 200°C

Step 2: Blend all your ‘meatball’ ingredients in a food processor or with a high powered immersion blender until well combined.

Step 3: On a lined oven tray, scoop out about a tablespoon of the mixture into balls.

Step 4: Bake at 200°C for 15-20 minutes. At the 10 minute mark, take the tray out and roll them around or turn them over, and then place them back in for the remaining 5-10 minutes until the outsides are crispy.

Step 5: While your ‘meatballs’ are in the oven, cook your pasta according to the packet instructions.

Step 6: While the ‘meatballs’ are cooking, you’ll also want to prepare the pasta sauce. Add a small drizzle of olive oil to a pan on medium-high heat and sauté your sliced onions until softened. Add the minced garlic, soy sauce, tomato paste, maple syrup, and balsamic vinegar and stir through. When the liquid has reduced slightly, add the canned tomatoes and stir through. Add salt to taste and turn the heat down to let it simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Step 7: remove your ‘meatballs’ from the oven and transfer them directly into the pan with the pasta sauce and stir through gently to cover all the balls.

Step 8: drain your pasta and plate it up. Pour ¼ of the ‘meatball’ and pasta sauce mix onto each plate. Serve with fresh herbs and salad if you’d like.

Ingredients:

This is a great family dish, or an easy option for bulk meal prep. You can also use the ‘meatball’ recipe to make burger patties!

This recipe serves 3-4 people (or roughly 10-12 balls)

1 packet of spaghetti of your choice (keep in mind most dry pasta is vegan, but fresh may have eggs).

‘Meatballs’

1 cup rolled oats

1 400ml can of black beans, strained and drained

2 tbsp oil plus some for cooking

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup white onion, roughly chopped

2 tbsp flax seeds soaked in 4tbsp water for at least 15 minutes (this forms an egg-like binding mixture)

1 tsp liquid smoke or smoked paprika

Pasta sauce:

2x 400g cans of tomatoes (chopped or whole)

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp maple syrup or brown sugar

½ white onion thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic roughly chopped

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp tomato paste

Salt to taste