Veggie Meatballs – Delicious vegetarian “meatballs” made with potatoes, carrots, onions and spices, served with a side of yogurt sauce.
Are you ready for another installment of food shaped into a ball?!?
Don’t know what has gotten into me, but in less than a week I have given you three ball recipes; Cashew Chicken Meatballs, Banana, Orange and Chocolate Truffles, and today we have Veggie “Meatballs”… Hate to see what Freud would have to say about all this ball-talk…
But, today’s veggie meatballs recipe is part of the Secret Recipe Club, and it comes from a blog dedicated to simple, vegetarian home cooking, called Simply Sensational Food by Nayna Kanabar. Her blog truly is a gem, filled with ethnic, vegetarian dishes with easy step-by-step instructions. If you have a moment, browse through her recipe index – you will be inspired.
I chose to make these Crispy Veggie Balls simply because I love to nibble on bite-size food. And because I like potatoes. And carrots.
HOW TO MAKE VEGGIE MEATBALLS
Nayna’s method included frying these meatballs in a little bit of sunflower oil, but I skipped that bit and fried them in a pool of canola oil. :/ I also omitted the chillies and turmeric. And I served it with a yogurt sauce on whole wheat tortilla. Gotta make it your own, ya know.
- Heat olive oil and add diced onion, shredded potatoes, carrots.
- Mix in garlic and peas; season and remove from heat.
- Stir in some lemon juice, corn flour, and 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, then set aside until mixture is cooled.
- Shape cooled veggie mixture into balls and chill in the fridge.
- Roll the chilled balls in breadcrumbs and add to hot oil; cook for about 4 minutes, or until nicely browned on all sides.
These Veggie Meatballs were extremely tasty! In fact, I had to double the recipe because I wanted to share it with a couple of friends that were coming by that night.
You can serve these as a meal, wrapped in a tortilla or stuffed into a pita bread, or you can have them as an appetizer served on a skewer or toothpick with a side of my delicious, garlicky yogurt sauce.
ENJOY!
Veggie “Meatballs”
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 yellow onion , diced
- 2 medium russet potatoes , shredded
- 2 large carrots , shredded
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- 1 can (14-ounces) sweet peas, rinsed and drained
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons corn flour
- 1/4 cup bread crumbs
- breadcrumbs for coating the veggie balls
- 1/4 cup oil for frying
- Tortillas (optional)
- Lettuce Leaves (optional)
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1 garlic clove , minced
- salt to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon dried mint
- 1/2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Heat olive oil and add diced onion; cook for 2 minutes or until softened.
- Add shredded potatoes and carrots; continue to cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Mix in garlic and peas.
- Season with salt, pepper, and chili powder; continue to cook for 3 minutes.
- Remove from heat.
- Stir in lemon juice, corn flour, and 1/4 cup breadcrumbs; set aside until mixture is cooled.
- Shape veggie mixture into 15 to 20 balls.
- Chill in fridge for 30 minutes.
- Place remaining breadcrumbs in shallow dish.
- Heat oil for frying.
- Roll the balls in the breadcrumbs and coat on all sides.
- Add into hot oil, 4 to 5 meatballs at a time.
- Cook over medium-high heat for 3 minutes, turn and cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes, or until nicely browned.
- Drain on paper towels and repeat process with the remaining veggie balls.
- Place all ingredients in a blender and pulse 2-3 times, just enough to mix it all together.
- Spoon into a serving plate or
- Spread yogurt sauce on a tortilla, put lettuce leaf over sauce and 3 veggie meatballs; roll and serve.
- You can also skewer the meatballs and serve as an appetizer with the yogurt sauce on the side.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
Absolutely a disaster. I guess she forgot to include egg so they don’t fall apart. Although they look crunchy on the outside, fact is, the inside is a mess. The taste is good but nothing to hold it all together.
tried this and added them to my spaghetti bolognese…it was so good! Just wondering, would it be fine to leave the meatballs in the fridge overnight and fry them the day after that? 🙂
O my goodness, I tried these tonite and served it in a wrap (2pieces per wrap), Iade homemade wraps too, to go with these and added chopped cucumbers,chopped tomatoes,and chopped onions to the yogurt along with fresh grated garlic, and drizzled some tamarind and date chutney( which is available at any Indian grocery store, readymade bottles)………me and hubby were in heaven…..kids ate it with some ketchup instead chutney and they loved it….
Serving it again for lunch to my teen who comes home for lunch!!!! Thank you sooooooo much for this awesome, delishhhh recipe!!!
Thank YOU! I’m so happy you all enjoyed them! These are by far my favorite “meatballs”. 🙂
It looks so crisp! And that yogurt sauce? Yes please!
These look and sound delicious but was wondering if i can use a different kind of flour besides corn?
I haven’t tried, but I think it would be okay if you used all-purpose flour. You will probably need to use more than 2 tablespoons… I say try it with 4 tablespoons and let me know how it goes! 😀
Awesome! I’ll give it a try this week 🙂
I’d like to invite you to my Friday Flash Blog, where you can share your best blog entry of the week! The party goes on ALL weekend at thejennyevolution.com. And who knows, you may just get featured next week.
Jennifer
thejennyevolution.com
What a great find of a recipe–can’t wait to try this. Always on the lookout for a good vegetarian dish for the hubs.
What a great dish and I love the way you used then in a wrap like a felafel! I made meatball this week and while eating them thought about trying a veggie version and we are. Thanks!
Love your ball-shaped food streak! Keep ’em coming. These veggie meatballs look scrumptious!
Wow this looks amazing, can’t wait to try it!
these look fantastic. Love the ingredients. Yum
WOW! those look incredible! i’d likely shove some cheese inside there and have a hay day! once tomatoes come into season you could make a scratch tomato jam and dip dip dip! ..yeah, i’m pinning these.
Happy SRC reveal!!
Sounds perfect with the garlic sauce!
How did i miss this post…I’ve been busy but I can’t pass the meatballs. First let me say how much I love each and every picture here…Kate those are an amazing images, like from the magazine! Just stunning! Recipe is yumilicious of course!
Oh, I can just taste these now! They look so good…love the crunchy look of the outsides! Lovely, as always, Kate!
Ohhh I love your suggestion on stuffing these in pita bread… YUM!!! Love the rustic feeling of this photography. 🙂
Yum! Pinned. 🙂
Oh yes garlicky cream sauce sounds brilliant with your veggie meatballs. Going into the recipebox.
Love your photos!!! Your dish looks and sounds incredibly tasty. Glad to be part of SRC group C with you!
I love these veggie balls!! look amazing!!
I don’t think i could pass these off as regulation meatballs, but in a wrap… You’re a genius!
You’ve got my mind on balls…Small bites are the best!
I love the variations you presented, from ingredients to method to serving suggestions. Terrific photo too.
Thankyou for cooking from simply.food, I am so glad you enjoyed these veggie balls. Your clicks are amazing.
These look so tasty, especially with that yogurt sauce!
Love these veggie meatballs. I love your ball all your recipes. 🙂
I will have to share this with my mother-in-law, she is going to love this recipe! She is not a big meat eater:-) I love that you added sweet peas, I think my farmers market had some the other day! Your recipe sounds delicious! Hugs, Terra
You’ve made these veggie balls look so good…..
Balls of delicious food, fried with a light breadcrumb coating, to pop into your mouth (or roll into a tortilla blanket), then dunk into a yummy sauce is always a good thing! Beautiful food photography, Kate! xo
Hi, Kate! I had no idea that you were part of the SRC as well.
These veggie meatballs look fantastic and having them wrapped in a sandwich, even better…
Love all the veggies in these. I wonder if they could be oven-fried?
Love this type of food. Who doesn´t? I wish they were already made and waiting in my fridge…! Gorgeous Kate!
These sound great Kate! On my list for lunch tomorrow. 🙂
I adore ball foods. And ain’t nothin’ sexier than a lady with balls;)