Description
Vegan chicken-style meatballs in a butter-chicken inspired sauce. Delicious and best served over rice!
Ingredients
“Chicken” Meatballs:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½ onion, diced
- ¾ cup cooked red or brown lentils
- ½ cup almond flour (or other type of nuts, seeds like walnuts or sunflower seeds)
- ¾ cup gluten flour (also called vital wheat gluten)
- ¾ cup vegan chicken broth or veggie broth
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- Pinch salt and pepper
Butter Chicken Sauce:
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp yellow curry powder
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 (400 mL) can full fat coconut milk
- 1 cup crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce
- 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp salt (taste and adjust as needed)
- chili flakes to taste
Instructions
Meatballs:
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Cook your lentils and measure out 3/4 cup (or if you are using canned lentils, simply measure out 3/4 cup.
- In a frying pan, cook onions and garlic in the olive oil for a few minutes until onions start to become translucent.
- To a food processor, add cooked onions, garlic, almond flour and lentils. Pulse until it becomes a paste consistency. It doesn’t have to be completely smooth, but it should be like a wet paste.
- Add to a bowl along with vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper. Mix with a spoon or your hands until it becomes a crumbly mixture. Add the broth and stir to form a dough.
- Use a tablespoon-size scoop and roll the dough into balls. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, flip and bake another 15 minutes.
Butter Chicken Sauce
- Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, cook onion and garlic in oil for 5 minutes.
- Add spices and stir to combine. Add coconut milk, tomatoes, salt and chili flakes.
- Simmer on medium-low until meatballs are done and sauce has thickened.
- Remove meatballs from oven and add into sauce. Simmer a few more minutes until thickened slightly.
- Serve over rice!