The past couple of weeks I have been trying out a lot of different homemade veggie balls. I don’t use recipes, just whatever is leftover in the fridge and pantry. The goal is to reduce waste and make something my daughter likes. The next couple of weeks I will share Aya’s favorites. First up are these vegan broccoli and mushroom balls. They are a great way to get some healthy veggies into your little one! Prep time is about 30 minutes and you only need seven ingredients!

What you need for 16 veggie balls:

• 4 mushrooms
• 5 heads of broccoli
• 1/2 can of cannelloni beans
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 handful of grains (I used a mixture of rice, barley and quinoa)
• olive oil
• breadcrumbs

You can use any kind of vegetables, beans and grains you or your child likes. I’ve tried this recipe with paprika, corn, peas, parsnip, you name it. You can also add spices and herbs. I obviously cook saltless, because of Aya, but you can definitely add some salt & pepper as well

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What you need to do:

• Heat a pan of water on the stove for your grains.
• Cut the broccoli, mushrooms and garlic in tiny pieces.
• Heat up a pan with a two tablespoons of olive oil and fry your veggies.
• Put your fried veggies in a bowl to cool off.

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• Cook the grains following instructions on the package.
• Put the beans and the cooked grains in your kitchen machine or blender, with two tablespoons of olive oil.
• Blend everything to a nice, thick paste.
• Add the paste and the breadcrumbs to your bowl of veggies.

If you have to hide the veggies from your child (or partner 😉 ) you can obviously put them in the blender as well. That way they won’t be visible when the balls are done.

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• Knead everything together and add more breadcrumbs if necessary.
• Roal small balls from your veggie paste.
• When they’ve cooled down, put them in the fridge for at least fifteen minutes.

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• Heat up a pan with two tablespoons of olive oil and fry the veggie balls.
• Turn them every two minutes, so all the sides are evenly fried.
• Put your veggie balls on a napkin, so it can soak up any excess oil.

You can also put the balls in the oven instead of a frying pan!

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 Read more vegan recipes.

And Enjoy!