Veggie Meatballs with Sweet and Sour Sauce Recipe

I follow Sweet Earth Natural Foods on Facebook, and the company posted a sweet and sour seitan-centric recipe that I couldn't wait to try. They suggested using seitan as the meat product but I wanted to use up some of my Yves Ground Round Beef that was getting attacked by freezer burn!

Here was the final product:

I steamed some broccoli that I then fried it up in olive oil and, once done, placed it over a bed of quinoa. I then placed a few meat balls and then generously poured the sweet and sour sauce over top.

Here is the recipe:

Meatballs:

1 pkg of Yves Ground Round
1/4 cup of flour
1/4 cup of peanut oil

Sweet and Sour Sauce (courtesy of Sweet Earth Natural Foods)

3 1/2 Tbs Seasoned Rice Vinegar (you can eyeball the 1/2 Tbs)
1/4 Cup Water2 Tbs + 2 tsp Sugar1 Tbs Tamari1 Tbs Ketchup1 tsp Molasses1/4 tsp Ginger Powder1/2 tsp Salt1 1/2 Tbs Cornstarch + 2 Tbs water
Broccoli:

• 1 large crown of broccoli cut up in bite size pieces

• 2 tbsp of olive oil

• Use a large crown of broccoli and cut it into bite size pieces. 

• Steam the broccoli until it turns bright green. You don't want it fully cooked because you will be frying it up shortly and it's nice to have that crunch texture with the soft quinoa and meatballs. 

• While the broccoli is being steamed, prepare your non-stick pan on medium heat with the olive oil. 

• Once the broccoli has steamed bright green, transfer it to your prepared pan and fry it up for 2-3 minutes.

• Once they get a bit crispy, put the broccoli aside. 

• This is also a chance to make your quinoa! You need about 1 cup on cooked quinoa. Follow the directions on the quinoa packaging: it's normally 2 parts water to 1 part quinoa. 

• While the broccoli and quinoa are being prepared, begin making the meatballs.  

• Heat 1/4 cup of peanut oil on medium-high in a large skillet, preferably non-stick.

• Take the veggie round and flour and mix. It will be sticky.

• Try and make small-to-medium sized meatballs. In the end, you want to try and have them all the same size.

• Once you have all the meatballs prepared, transfer as many as you can to your prepared pan without crowding the meatballs. You want enough room that you can roll them around so that they can cook evenly.

• The cooking process takes about 10 minutes. I like mine to be very crispy so I like them cooked on each side a little longer.

• While the meatballs are cooking, begin making the sauce. 

• Add all the sauce ingredients except for the cornstarch and water into a small saucepan and heat on low until sugar dissolves. 

• Mix cornstarch with 2 Tbs water and add to sauce. 

• Turn up heat to medium-high and whisk until sauce thickens. 

• Sauce should be moderately thick, but not so thick it’s gel like. 

• Add more cornstarch to make it thicker if needed, or add water to thin it out if it gets too thick.

• Take off heat and set aside.

Actually, the plan tonight is to make this sauce for a vegetable stir fry! Can't wait!


Directions:

I love the sweet and sour sauce! Reminds me of the sauce my Oma made me when I was younger. Very tangy with a bit of sweetness. M. and I thought this recipe was a winner, and we will definitely use it again. If you want a quick and delicious supper after a long work day, this entire recipe can be made in 45 minutes without too much prep work. Perfect!