15 November: Swedish Soyballs

Yesterday I felt a bit sick so I didn’t blog, even if we cooked, so today it will be a double feature. We start off with the most Swedish dish of all, meatballs. All families have their own version of it and everyone has an opinion about how it should be made. Well, this is Veganvrak’s recipe that I’ve just tweaked a bit. It is close to the recipe my father use so this is how I like them. This is another one of those dishes that is impossible to eat with out lingonberry jam. Green peas, potatoes and brown gravy is my way of eating it.

Soyballs

300 g soy mince, TVP or a frozen kind you like
0,5 dl bread crumbs
1,5 dl soy cream (soy milk if you don’t have a non-sweeten cream)
1 small onion
2 tsp soy sauce
Nutmeg
Salt
Pepper
1-2 tbsp soy flour or wheat gluten
Margarine

If using frozen soy mince let it defrost, it should be room temperature. If using TVP, cook for 20 min and then let it cool down.

grate the onion and mix it in a bowl with bread crumbs and soy cream. Let it rest for 10 min.
Mix in the soy mince, spices and flour to a dough. Let it rest a few minutes.
Make small balls, about 20. Swedish “meat”balls are rather small in sizes, it should be easy to put a whole one in the mouth.
Melt the margarine in a cast iron pan until golden. Drop in your balls and fry them golden brown. to keep them round, shake the pan so they roll around.

Brown gravy

1/2 tbsp margarine
1 tbsp flour
3/4 cup soy milk
1-2 tsp soy sauce
salt
pepper
coloring soy

Melt the margarine in a cast iron pan, use the one you just used for the soy balls and you get all the good brown bits in the gravy. Whisk in the flour to a paste. Pour in the soy milk and add soy sauce. let it simmer for about 5 min so the flour taste goes away. Taste with salt and pepper and add some coloring soy if it isn’t brown to you liking.