Hi!

I and my girlfriend are building up our personal collection of veggie favorites. This is one of them - the meatfree-meatballs!
They contain dairy products and egg so the are not vegan. They taste fine and we actually managed to fool a few people that they were ordinary metaballs made from meat.

Step 1: Ingredients

The ingredients:
1½ dl Grated cheese
1½ dl Ground almond (grind them yourself or by almond flour)
1½ dl Dried breadcrumbs
3 Eggs
2 tablespoons grated onion
1-4 tablespoons dried funnel chanterelle (Cantharellus tubaeformis) (Optional)
1 tablespoon soysauce
1/4 tablespoon Salt
Vhite pepper
Vegetable stock (preferably glutamate free)

The amounts can be multiplied, just try the taste before you fry them all. We've made up to a hundred balls at one time and it was really nice to fill up the fridge with them.

Step 2: How To

I usually start with putting the dried mushrooms in a tablespoon of soysauce and let them soak.

Then i grind the cheese, nuts and onion together. Mix all the ingedients properly.
Roll the mixture into even sized balls. I usually keep my hands a bit wet so the mixture doesnt stick to the hands.

If you want to experiment with the seasoning you may boil and fry one ball, taste it and adjust with more salt, pepper, basil, ginger och whatever flavor you prefer. (bleed´n seabirdflavor)

Boil in aprox. a litre of stock water until they float up to the surface. The stock adds a bit of flavor.

If you want this is a good moment to put some of the boiled balls away in the freezer for frying later on. Try to freeze them separatly so it´s easier to pick as many as you wish from the bag or box. The taste better if fried after thawing than if you re-fry them. Also try to thaw them before you fry them, they cheese tend to melt if you fry them too long.

I usually fry in butter for the good taste othervise use a vegatable oil with neutral taste.

Step 3: Summary

The 'balls can be served with potatoes and lingonberries, rice or on a sandwich, as a snack they are good for most uses (but don't push them up your nose Marcus.)

The disussion about why we choose to make meat-free food the same shape as the meatfood is interesting. I dont mind borrowing the shape and taste from "traditional" food, after all - the transition from meat-eater to vegetarian doesent have to be hard and painful. Just replace one favourite at a time. If we look at recepies from medieval times they usually just added the meat for flavor rather than letting the meat be the main part of the meal and maybe thats something to inspire us.