Vegetarian Recipe: Mushroom Beanballs and Cumin Veg Rice

Betta Living have challenged bloggers to come up with a recipe for National Vegetarian Week which runs from 19th-25th May this year. Although we are not vegetarians ourselves, we do try to have a meat-free day or two each week.

We recently visited the Sealife Centre and heard about just how much deforestation is caused by raising livestock for meat. We found out that shockingly 'At the current rate of deforestation, there will be no rainforest left by 2060!'.  Reducing our meat consumption and only buying British meat can help so that's what we are trying to do. Other fantastic benefits of eating vegetarian meals are that they are often packed full of tasty, healthy veg and cost less too as they don't contain meat.

This recipe I have created for Mushroom Beanballs and Cumin Veg Rice contains loads of colourful vegetables and is nutritionally balanced and works out low in cost too! The ingredients list might look long - but a lot of it is storecupboard ingredients you'll have at home. And when it comes to that lovely veg, feel free to substitute with any other veg you have in your fridge - almost anything works!

Ingredients: (Feeds 4-6 people)
Rapeseed oil
2 cloves of garlic
1 red onion
130g Mushrooms
dried parsley
1-2 slices of bread (to make breadcrumbs)
Cumin seeds
Juice of 1 lemon
400g Tin of Kidney Beans
Dried coriander
Rice (allow 75g per person)
1-2 Courgettes
Green beans
Half a red pepper
Half a yellow pepper
Half an orange pepper
400g tin of chickpeas
Handful of fresh flat leaf parsley

Method:
1. Finely chop half a red onion and 2 cloves of garlic and saute in a frying pan in a little rapeseed oil. Then slice the mushrooms and add them to the pan, followed by a teaspoon of dried parsley. Once softened turn off the heat and leave to cool a little.
2. Drain and rinse the kidney beans. Using a fork or hand-blender mash the kidney beans. Add a drizzle of rapeseed oil.  Add a teaspoon of ground cumin (you can simply crush the cumin seeds with a pestle and mortar to make ground cumin) and a teaspoon of dried coriander, followed by the juice of a lemon. Mix together.
3. Blitz the bread into breadcrumbs using the chopper attachment of the handblender. Then add the breadcrumbs into the kidney bean mixture.
4. Then add your sauteed mushroom mixture into the kidney bean mixture and mix to combine. Now shape the mixture into some little balls and lightly fry in a frying pan or griddle pan. These quantities were enough to make 18 bean balls.
5. Cook some rice according to pack instructions. I cook mine in the microwave by covering with some boiled water and cooking on high power for 20 minutes. Even though it is normal rice (not microwave rice) it gives perfect results!
6. Whilst the rice is cooking, chop the veg into pieces. Keep them chunky as this recipe really shows off the lovely colours of the vegetables! Also chop up the second half of the red onion. It will add an extra bit of colour.
7. Lightly fry the vegetables in a pan, adding the drained and rinsed tin of chickpeas and a teaspoon of cumin seeds. Towards the end of cooking, add a handful of chopped fresh parsley.

8. Once the rice is cooked combine the rice with the colourful vegetables and serve with the mushroom bean balls.

Whilst the beanballs might look like meatballs in appearance, they actually take on the taste of the garlic, spices and lemon and taste amazing! They would however, easily rival meat in terms of protein content because the kidney beans and mushrooms are packed full of protein.

A colourful dish for all the family to enjoy during National Vegetarian Week. Why not make it as a meat-free meal every week!

This is my #BettaRecipe vegetarian recipe entry into Betta Living's blogger competition. Find out more details here.