Vegan Eggplant Meatballs Questa ricetta è disponibile anche in italiano
These vegan eggplant meatballs are the ideal summer finger food to share as an aperitif, buffet dish or main course.
Who has never tried making meatballs eggplant? They are so delicious, light and tasty that they will literally leave you craving more.
What I am going to share with you today is a very simple recipe that I have been using since I became vegan, because making delicious vegan eggplant meatballs is not only very possible but also extremely easy.
All we need are:
- Eggplants that have been precooked with whichever method you prefer, either roasted in a pan, baked in the oven or in the air fryer. The latter is the cooking method that I personally prefer, as it allows us to get a perfect result in a very short time, about half of the time if we were to use the traditional oven.
- Wholemeal flour. The flour will act as a thickener, just like eggs in the original version. You can however use any type of flour you wish; you can use durum wheat semolina for a more crunchy version or a gluten-free flour for a gluten free version.
- Fresh parsley. A staple ingredient of traditional meatballs, parsley gives an element of freshness to our vegan meatballs. Alternatively, you can freely use other fresh (or dried) herbs to taste; for example these meatballs also go very well with basil or mint.
- Fresh garlic. A pinch of finely grated fresh garlic undoubtedly gives a stronger flavor to our meatballs. If you don’t like this ingredient so much, you can use dry garlic, as it is less pungent.
- Grated vegan cheese. You can use any brand you like, or even nutritional yeast. Personally for this recipe I use the gondino, which flavour is very close to authentic Parmesan. Alternatively, if you like to make your own, you can grate some aged chickpea cheese.
- Salt and Pepper according to your taste.
- Vegetable oil for cooking. In this version I would suggest cooking in an air fryer as, with this fantastic appliance, it is actually possible to have a result that is very close, if not equal, to traditional fried food without using large quantities of oil. Obviously, if you do not own an air fryer or still prefer the fried version, you can certainly deep fry the meatballs in a generous amount of vegetable oil until golden brown, or bake them in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for about double the time I will indicate below.
- Panko or breadcrumbs. Another element that I personally love to use in the vegan version of eggplant meatballs is panko. Largely used in Japanese cuisine, panko is nothing more than a coarser breadcrumbs than the traditional one which, gives a richer and crunchy breading/coating. Of course this ingredient is not essential and it is possible to replace it with traditional or gluten-free breadcrumbs.
Following my advice you will get a bunch of crispy and fragrant aubergine meatballs, which you can accompany with a side salad for a light and tasty main or second course, or to be served as an aperitif or even an appetizer.
Whatever your preferences on how to serve them, don’t forget to let me know with a comment if you make them.
Recipe for Vegan Eggplant Meatballs
Ingredients:
4 Eggplants (approx 1.5kg)
40-50 g Wholemeal Flour
30 g Grated Vegan Cheese
1 Handful of Chopped Fresh Parsley
2 Cloves of Garlic
100 g Panko (or Regular Breadcrumbs)
Salt
Pepper
Vegetable Oil
Method:
1. Wash the eggplants well, prick the skin with a fork in few places, place in the air fryer basket and cook for 20 minutes at 200° C (390°F). Alternatively, you can always cook the pricked eggplants in a skillet or pan over medium-high heat, taking care to constantly turn them until they become soft, or you can bake them in a preheated oven at 200° C (390°F) for about 40/45 minutes.
2. Once cooked, allow the eggplant to cool down until you can handle them easily, then, with the help of a knife, remove the peel and fillet the pulp. The eggplants will be soft enough that you can do this completely by hand; this will also allow you to easily remove any seeds that are too large.
3. Transfer the eggplants fillets into a colander and squeeze them as much as possible with your hands to remove excess water.
4. Place the drained eggplant fillets in a large bowl, then add: flour, chopped parsley, garlic and grated vegan cheese, along with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Mix everything until you get a dough that can be easily worked by hand; if it is still too wet, add more flour. The dough should be firm but still a little sticky at the same time. Don’t worry about meatballs as they will thicken during cooking.
6. Take about a tablespoon of dough and form the meatballs with the palms of your hands.
7. Bread each meatball in the panko and transfer it to the basket of the air fryer, previously sprayed with vegetable oil.
8. Spay or drizzle some additional vegetable oil on the meatballs, then cook them for 15 minutes at 200° C (390°F), turning them halfway through cooking. The addition of a drizzle of oil when cooking with air is important a) to avoid the meatballs sticking to the basket, b) to simulate the effect of fried-not-fried. Any excess fat will go to the bottom of the fryer, so the meatballs will absorb the bare minimum during cooking, giving you the taste but not the excess fat.
9. Serve the vegan eggplant meatballs immediately with a pinch of salt, or even warm or cold, depending on your taste.
Notes: This recipe for traditional vegetarian meatballs also includes a mozzarella filling; if you want to make them even more delicious you can insert a cube of vegetable mozzarella inside each meatball in order to to achieve a stringy, oozy cheesy filling.
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