Spanish Vegetarian Challenge 1 Albondigas Vegetarian Meatballs

Sometimes it's undeniably good to eat out. Get some new inspirations, get out of your normal surroundings and basically just have a change of routine but here in Spain, for vegetarians, that is pretty tricky.

One day when we were thinking of what to cook, Theresa challenged me to convert Spanish Tapas meals to the kind of healthful vegetarian version that we would eat. This meant recreating some meat dishes like the one below, but without the meat, and doing some things like the legendary "enslada rusa" , or potatoes with "salsa rosa" that are vegetarian but just would make you feel like a bus had been dropped on you if you actually ate it without a great deal of pre-training on saturated fats.

Over the next few weeks you'll see what I came up with and  although probably no self-respecting Spaniard would ever eat the food I made, I  feel I rose to the challenge. I loved these meals. 

These are the ubiquitous item on every Spanish Tapas bar menu. Usually made with pork, down here in Tarifa they make them with tuna. Ours are made without any harm to sentient beings only soya beans.

Albondigas - Our Spanish Meatless Meatballs (Serves 4-6)

For the Meatballs

2 cups soya chunks 

4 cups vegetable stock/water    

2 stalks celery            

1 med carrot            

1 tbsp olive oil          

1 tbsp tomato paste  

1 tsp thyme            

1 tsp oregano            

1 tsp basil                

1/2 tsp chilli flakes     

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

1 tbsp yeast flakes    

1 tbsp chickpea flour   

2 tbsp soya sauce     

To Make the Meatballs

1. Soak the Soya Chunks in the stock or water for an hour. Drain (reserving the liquid) process the chunks briefly in a food processor until you have a fine crumb
2. Meanwhile, add a tablespoon Olive Oil to a heavy based Saute-Pan and saute the celery and carrot until soft and translucent. Add the tomato paste and another tablespoon of water and cook for another minute. Then add the Thyme, Oregano, basil and Chilli Flakes and stir a couple of times.
3. Add the ground up soya Chunks and a little of their soaking liquor and cook for ten more minutes on a low simmer adding more of the liquor if necessary to keep the contents of the pan moist.
4. Tip the Soya Mixture into a bowl and add the rest if the ingredients. Shape into small balls, patting the mixture quite firmly together, place on a plate and chill for at least an hour. This will firm the balls up a little.
5. Add another  2 tablespoons of oil to a heavy bottomed pan and wait until the oil gets pretty hot. Add the meatballs and the hot oil should "seal then" and stop them falling apart. Saute until golden and take off the heat and gently fold in the tomato sauce - taking care as this is the time the balls may want to crumble a little..

For the Tomato Sauce

5 tbsp olive oil 

1 stalk celery      

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp oregano     

1 tsp basil          

1 bay leaf      

1 tsp sugar          

1.5 cups tinned tomato puree

2 cups water             

To make the Tomato Sauce

1. Add 2 Tbs Olive Oil to the pan and when hot add the celery. Saute until translucent over medium heat
2. Add the tomato paste and 2 tbs water. Mix well and stir for 4-5 minutes until the paste is cooked, adding more water if needed to ensure the paste doesn't stick.
3. Add the herbs and stir for another minute. Then add the tinned-tomatoe, rest of the Olive Oil and water, partially cover and simmer for 1 hour adding more water if the sauce gets too thick. Remove the Bay leaf.