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Vegan & Crunchy Eggplant Snack Balls aka Donna’s Veggie Balls
All my recipes have a story behind them and the one behind these vegan eggplant snack balls aka Donna’s balls is a fun one!
We were sitting in my kitchen studio one day and as we were hungry, Donna had this lightbulb moment to make vegan eggplant snack balls after spotting a couple of lonely eggplants in my pantry. We couldn’t come up with a different name so to this day these are known as Donna’s veggie balls.
This is only one of the many recipes you can find in my new cookbook Plant-Based Love Stories. It’s a collection of truly magnificent moments I’ve had in the kitchen and I hope all of you plant-lovers and future plant-lovers will create epic memories when preparing these recipes.
Get Your Vegan Snack Balls Ready In Only 3 Steps
I promise you – this will be quick!
First, get your ingredients ready. Eggplants need to be nicely cooked and soft. I heard from a lot of people that eggplant is such a basic vegetable. But it’s not really – it has so much flavour and you just have to find the right combo of ingredients to really let it shine. Do I even need to say that these veggie snack balls have that perfect combo of flavours? LOL
As for the other veggies and isms, just get them clean and ready to be thrown into your food processor.
Second, have fun! Once your base mixture is ready, mix in the breadcrumbs and psyllium and let them do their magic. Psyllium will soak up all the moisture and then you can start having fun and shaping the mixture into your veggie snack balls!
Finally, frying time. I usually fry these balls but you can also bake them. Allow them to get crunchy on the outside and that’s it! Now you just have to EAT them!
Eggplant Snack Balls aka Donna’s Balls Recipe!
~INGREDIENTS~
- 200g Eggplant, chopped into bite-sized chunks
- 1 cup Rice, cooked
- 1 Spring Onion, thinly sliced
- 1 Garlic Clove, grated
- 1/2-inch Ginger, grated
- 1/2 tsp Sesame Seed Oil
- 1 tsp Tamari
- 1/2 cup Breadcrumbs
- 2 tsp Psyllium
- A handful of Fresh Coriander, chopped roughly, for garnishing
- 1 tbsp #LETTINGGO
~METHOD~
Add the eggplant to a small pan and pour in enough water to cover the eggplant.
Bring to the boil and cook until soft and the water has evaporated.
Drain the eggplant well. Transfer to a food processor, add the rice, spring onion, garlic, ginger, sesame seed oil, and tamari, and blend until the ingredients are combined, allowing a little texture.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl and mix in the breadcrumbs and psyllium.
Roll the mixture into small balls (around 40 grams each) and place them in the fridge for 30 minutes to set.
Fry the balls until brown.
Serve with my homemade teriyaki sauce and garnished with coriander.
***
Serves: 3-4
Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins
Freezer-friendly: Yes
C, RSF, NF, DF, VEG, V
These veggie snack balls are to die for so you can eat them on their own, serve them with tapas or as Donna and I like them, with a generous splash of my homemade teriyaki sauce (also featured in my Plant-Based Love Stories cookbook). Since they freeze really well I make a big batch, freeze them, and have them on tap.
Head to my YouTube channel or blog for more awesome plant-based recipes!
With love from my kitchen to yours,
Chef Cynthia Louise xx
