My mom used to make a traditional German recipe called Bulletten or Frikadellen– basically hamburger patties or meatballs on steroids. They’re moist, flavourful and frugal. These patties are usually eaten with a creamy gravy with noodles or potatoes.

I’ve taken my mother’s recipe and veganized it using my new favourite ingredient – TVP (textured vegetable protein). My thrifty mom would have approved!

Let’s get started on this super easy and quick recipe.

Ingredients

½ cup TVP

1 slice bread torn into pieces about the size of a pencil eraser

2 mushrooms finely minced

2 Tbsp onion finely minced or 1 Tbsp dried minced onion

1 Tbsp ground flax

1 Tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped

Hot vegetable bouillon to make 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons broth

¼ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp garlic powder

¼ cup plant milk

1 Tbsp flour (I used chickpea flour)

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp ketchup

A few grinds of pepper

Directions

Heat your oven to 400F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet or pan.

Place the TVP, flax, nutmeg, garlic powder, salt and pepper (and minced onion if using) in a heat-proof bowl and pour the vegetable broth over it. Give it a stir and allow it to stand for about 5 minutes.

While the TVP is rehydrating, you can prepare all your other ingredients and add them to the bowl.

Once the TVP is rehydrated, stir all the ingredients in and thoroughly combine them. You will have wet, dough-like ball. Form the meatballs using about 1 ½ tablespoons of the mixture for each meatball, and place the meatballs on the greased cookie sheet. You should have 9 -12 meatballs.

Bake for 15 minutes then gently flip the meatballs. Be careful because at the 15-minute mark the meatballs will still be soft and I accidentally mushed one out of shape as you can see in the photo.

Bake for another 10 minutes then remove from the oven. Let the meatballs sit for about 5minutes. Serve up, or freeze for later use.

I served mine with my mushroom stroganoff.

Enjoy!