Soon the end of the year will come and of course those of you who celebrate Christmas have made a lot of preparations for it. I'm not a person who will celebrate Christmas because I'm Muslim. But why did I come up with these food ideas for Christmas? I know there are many of you who celebrate Christmas out there. I want to give you food ideas that you can make to share at your Christmas moment with your family. Of course with food that saves the budget.
This recipe is also my entry for the challenge: The Brand New PLANT BASED challenge.
Meatballs with cream sauce are indeed one of the many foods served on holidays such as Christmas. Meanwhile, on my religious event, there is also a meatball dish, but it is served with a transparent/clear sauce, not a creamy sauce. So there are indeed many variations of the meatball ingredients. By the way, this time I will share a recipe for vegan meatballs made from tofu.
Tofu and Broccoli Balls
Since I was little, in the area where I live, meat is indeed expensive compared to chicken and fish. Of course our family prefers to consume plant-based version of food which really helps us to save our finances, manage our financial health even better. Because of the habit that I've had since I was little, I finally got used to eating less meat, although sometimes I still eat meat at certain moments.
In addition to these things, meat is indeed longer consumed by the body. So if we have the opportunity to consume other ingredients that contain protein that is no less good than meat, then we shouldn't miss that opportunity. So, this time I will talk about tofu which has very high protein.
Since I was little I used to eat tofu. People often mock our family for not being able to afford meat as if our family would not grow up to be better and healthier if we did not eat meat. But we grew up healthy and well and even I became the best version of myself. I can attest to success to the people who used to mock our family.
In the area where I live, tofu is said to be the food of the poor people. But for me, tofu is actually a high-value food in terms of the nutritional content in it. In fact, I was lucky enough to get tofu for a low price, compared to people in other countries who have to buy tofu at a high price.
Well, let's get back to the topic of vegan meatballs. I replaced the meat with tofu ingredients. Apart from tofu, here I add another ingredient which is very healthy for the body, namely broccoli. Yeeap, I used broccoli heads to make the tofu mixture, which will make a delicious and healthy dish for your big day celebration.
Advantages of Using Tofu
One of the notable advantages of making vegan meatballs is that you don't need to use a food processor. That's because in this recipe we will use tofu and broccoli. We only need to use a fork or a potato masher to mash the tofu, as well as a knife for chopping the broccoli.
Meanwhile, if we use meat for meatballs in general, we need to use a food processor with a sharp blade in it. This is so that later you can crush the meat perfectly and make dough balls with flour.
So, by using tofu as the main ingredient for making vegan meatballs, we can save on equipment usage by using only simple kitchen equipment.
The Ingredients
- a pack of tofu or about 250 grams
- a broccoli [only the head is used. Save the stems of the broccoli for another serving].
- 10 spoons of glutinous rice flour [can be added more also the ball dough cannot be formed into balls].
- 500 ml of water for gravy
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- optional: Chili powder and pepper powder
For Seasoning
- 3 cloves of red onion, thinly sliced.
- 3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced.
- a stalk of lemongrass, flattened.
- a piece of ginger, flattened.
- 2 teaspoons of salt or according to your own preference taste
- 1 teaspoon of brown sugar or white sugar
- 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
- optional: mushroom powder
Cooking Instructions
STEP 1
Prepare the tofu and broccoli in advance. Mash the tofu with a fork. Besides cutlery, you can also use the bottomglass to mash the tofu quickly.
STEP 2
Once the tofu is mashed, it's time to prep the broccoli. Finely chop the head of the broccoli to make it easier to mix it with the tofu that has been mashed earlier.
STEP 3
Once the tofu and broccoli are ready, mix them together in a large bowl. Then add two teaspoons of salt, one teaspoon of pepper and chili powder if you like it spicy. Stir them well.
STEP 4
Then slowly add the glutinous rice flour. Here I use a measure of 10 tablespoons of glutinous rice flour.
For me this is the right measure because I can form balls well. If you think your dough is still too soft, you can add more flour.
STEP 5
Once the vegan meatballs are ready to be formed, set aside for a while as we will be preparing the seasoning for the gravy. Prepare sliced garlic and onions. Heat cooking oil, then saute garlic and onion until fragrant. Also add a stalk of flattened lemon grass and ginger.
STEP 6
After the onions become fragrant, add soy sauce and about 500 ml of water. If you don't want it to be too thick you can add more water. The amount of water is also adjusted according to the number of balls that you will put in it.
Because I'm only making about two servings of vegan meatballs here, I don't use too much water.
Add another 2 teaspoons of salt as well (optional mushroom broth). If you don't have mushroom stock that's fine too.
STEP 7
Once the water is boiling, it's time for us to form the tofu balls and put them in the boiling water. First make sure you have lowered the heat level of the fire. Use only the smallest fire.
Take a handful of dough then squeeze it using your thumb and forefinger until it comes out onto it to form a ball then scoop it out with a spoon.
STEP 8
Place the tofu bowl into the gravy. As much as possible, do it in a fast motion so that later all the balls can be cooked evenly.
After we put the tofu balls that will be served, then increase the heat of the fire to be higher than before because we will be cooking them simultaneously.
STEP 9
Cook the balls until they appear to float on the surface of the gravy. Stir slowly, don't let the tofu bolls break down because the texture of these bols is very soft compared to meatballs in general which are chewy.
Well, serve vegan meatballs made of tofu and broccoli while they are warm. You can also add other side dishes such as noodles or other types of pasta. It's up to your individual tastes or requests from your family members when visiting your home.
My partner really likes the taste of the vegan meatballs that I made. The texture is soft and actually very suitable for kids. My partner didn't expect those balls to be made of tofu and broccoli. It was really mind-blowing, he said.
So, what do you think of my vegan meatballs recipe this time? Are you interested in trying it? For your information, you can make your own tofu at home if you can't get tofu stock in the market.
There are many ways to make tofu available on YouTube or other social media platforms. You can make tofu only from Soy Beans and lemon juice ingredients.
By the way, I have leftover and I will keep it in freezer for make another dish later.
I am very happy to be able to share recipes for your Christmas celebrations. Although I don't celebrate Christmas but I will often serve these vegan meatballs at important moments in my life and my family such as the celebration of our religious event and also the birthday celebrations of our family members later.
Thank you for reading my blog and reblog if you want my blog this time worthy of reading by others.
Best Regards,
Anggrek Lestari
Anggrek Lestari is an Indonesian fiction writer who has published two major books. Now She is a full-time content creator. She has a goal to share life, poem, and food content that makes others happy and can get inspiration.
Contact Person: authoranggreklestari@gmail.com
Discord: anggreklestari#3009