Vegan Dawood Basha
A classic Lebanese meatball stew with a spiced tomato based sauce. A hearty meal that's full of flavour and is perfect served with some vermicelli rice.
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 2 tablespoons milled flaxseed
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 small red onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 medium green chilli
- 200 g mushrooms
- 50 g oats
- 50 g breadcrumbs
- 400 g can black beans
- 2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses
- 1 teaspoon Lebanese 7 spice
- Pinch ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Sauce
- 1 large carrot
- 2 medium potatoes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 white onions diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoons Lebanese 7 spice
- 400 g tin chopped tomatoes
- 200 ml vegetable stock
- 50 g frozen green peas
- 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
- 4 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- Salt
- Freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
Meatballs
- Add the milled flaxseeds and water to a bowl and mix to hydrate the flaxseeds. Set aside for 5 minutes.
- Preheat an oven to 180°C
- Roughly chop the onion, garlic and green chilli, add to a blender or food processor. Clean and roughly chop the mushrooms and also add to the blender.
- Add the milled flax seeds when they have been sitting for at least 5 minutes together with the rest of the ingredients for the meatballs. Blend into a roughly homogeneous texture. Some lumps of mushrooms or beans are ok. The mixture should easily form into a ball when rolled in a spoon or in your hands.
- Wet your hand then roll the meatball mixture into 20 evenly sized meatballs using roughly a heaped tablespoon for each.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the meatballs on it.
- Place in the centre of the preheated oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden all over. Turn the meatballs halfway through cooking.
- The sauce can be made while the meatballs are cooking.
Sauce
- Peel and wash the carrot and potatoes. Cut into bite-sized pieces. Place them in a pot of salted water and bring to a boil. Cook until the potatoes are just fork-tender. Around 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and set aside until later.
- Heat up the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Once hot add the diced onions and sauté until they are soft and translucent, around 8 minutes.
- Add the garlic and continue to sauté for 1 minute.
- Now add the tomato puree and sauté until the puree goes a deep red colour and begins to caramelise, around 2 minutes.
- Add the bay leaf, Lebanese 7 spice, chopped tomatoes and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Cover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened, around 15 minutes.
- Add the frozen green peas, cooked potatoes and carrots, pomegranate molasses and cooked meatballs. Stir to combine everything and continue to cook for 5 minutes until the peas are fully cooked.
- Serve with vermicelli rice and the toasted pine nuts and parsley as a garnish.
Tried this recipe?Mention @mikeronm or tag #theveganplanetkitchen!