When we say «soutzoukakia» our mind goes straight to the traditional Smyrna recipe with minced meat and many seasonings, but who would dare to try their … chickpeas – version?
We put our imagination to work overtime and ended up with vegan smyrna ‘meat’ balls «soutzoukakia» with chickpeas and tahini… Yummy!
Ingredients
For the cheese filling
-
,
- 100 gr feta cheese ,
- 50 gr greek yoghurt
For the «soutzoykakia»
-
,
- 350 gr. chickpeas ,
- 1 dry onion ,
- 4-5 garlic cloves ,
- 100 gr. stale bread crumbs ,
- 1 teaspoon cumin ,
- Pepper ,
- Salt
For the tomato sauce
(2 servings)
-
,
- 500 gr cherry tomatoes ,
- 1/2 garlic clove (grated - passed from the very thin side of the grater) ,
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil (chopped) ,
- 1 tablespoon olive oil ,
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar ,
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar ,
- oregano ,
- Salt and pepper ,
- Zest of 1 lemon
Instructions
For the cheese filling
-
,
- We stir the mixture and mold short "sticks"
For the vegan 'meat' balls
-
,
- From the night before we soak the chickpeas in hot water. The next day, we strain and spread them on a clean towel to dry. ,
- In the food processor, we grind the chickpeas carefully so that we do not mash them. In the food processor we also grind the bread. The onions goes on the thick part of the grater and the garlic in the fine one. ,
- In a large bowl we knead the chickpeas, bread, onions, garlic, spices, season with as much salt and pepper as we need, according to our tastes. When all the materials are homogenized, we mold and shape «soutzoukakia». ,
- Within each «soutzoukaki» we put a little bit of the feta cheese short "sticks".
For the sauce
-
,
- We preheat the oven to resistances at 180 ° C. ,
- Cutting the cherry tomatoes in half, we sort them out in a non-stick pan. ,
- We sprinkle with olive oil and garlic. ,
- ,
- Then remove them from the pan and transfer them to a bowl. ,
