I know I just posted the Italian Tofuballs a few weeks ago, but I figured out how to add a few more cups a vegetables to the mix while keeping the flavor and texture. I just had to share. This version calls for an egg, which helps the texture a bit, and helps them hold together. If vegan you can omit the egg altogether or substitute with a few tablespoons of aquafaba. These are a delightful snack, I actually even like them cold, or can be used to go with pasta. My toddler gobbled these up.
Tofu Balls with Extra Veggies
Ingredients
- 2 TBL oilve oil
- 11/2 cup grated zucchini
- 1/2 cup minced onion
- 11/2 cups finely chopped spinach
- 3 mushrooms, minced
- 1 lb water packed extra firm tofu
- 1 TBL Italian seasoning
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp granulated garlic
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 TBL nutritional yeast
- 1 egg beaten (omit if vegan, or try 2 TBL aquafaba lightly beaten with a fork)
- 1/4-1/3 cup vegan bread crumbs
- Neutral flavored oil for cooking
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Add oil, zucchini, onion, spinach, and mushrooms and cook 5-8 minutes or until most of the water has been released and cooked off.
- Mash tofu in a large bowl with your hands or a potato masher.
- Add Italian seasoning, salt, garlic, egg, cooked vegetables, and nutritional yeast and stir together.
- Add bread crumbs a few tablespoons at a time stirring to combine. The mixture should start to stick together.
- Taste the mixture and adjust seasonings to taste.
- Heat about a 1/4″ of oil in a large heavy bottomed skillet to about 350 degrees. I never actually check this with a thermometer, but you should. It should be hot, but not smoking, and when you flick a few drops of water into the oil it should sizzle and pop.
- Form the tofu mixture into walnut sized balls with your hands. Pack them a bit, but don’t worry if they feel loose as long as they hold their shape in your hand. If they don’t add more breadcrumbs until they do.
- Carefully place the tofu balls in the hot oil, and cook until one side is golden brown (3-4 minutes), flip them and cook on the other side another 3 minutes or so until golden brown.
- Unless you have a super huge skillet you will need to work in batches. You might need to add more oil between batches. If this happens don’t forget to reheat the oil before frying.
- Once cooked remove the tofu balls and place on a plate lined with paper towel to drain.
- Serve hot with pasta and sauce, or just eat as is. Super yummy snack!
- You could also bake these on an oiled baking sheet at 375 for about 20 minutes. Still good, but not quite the same.
Happy Food Ninja 