Healthy, easy lentil meatballs with buckwheat, fresh herbs and spices. Soft and flavoursome, perfect on a bed of spiralised zucchini. Yields 24 meatballs.
Pre-heat oven at 180˚C (355˚F) and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Cook the lentils and buckwheat: Place lentils and buckwheat in a sieve and rinse very well under running water. Transfer to a large pot, fill it ¾ full of water, bring to a boil, reduce heat a little, and cook for about 15 minutes or till just done. Drain and rinse with cool water.
Fry shallots and garlic: While the lentils/buckwheat cook, heat a little olive oil in a pan and lightly fry finely chopped shallot. Add roughly chopped garlic cloves and cook a little longer. Transfer to a food processor.
Pulse ingredients in food processor: Add ground chia, parsley, tomato paste, spring onions, sun-dried tomatoes, salt and spices to the food processor and pulse to combine. Add the cooled lentils/buckwheat and blitz to combine. Add the sunflower seeds last for one final pulse.
Roll and bake: Roll mixture into balls using a tablespoon of mixture per. Place on baking tray and bake for 15 minutes max (you want them to be a bit soft), turning half way through.
Serve: Serve with marinara sauce and pasta/spiralised zucchini. I love to fold about 100g fresh baby spinach or kale through the sauce to get some greens in there.