Meatless Italian Meatballs

1 medium eggplant, chopped into very small cubes

1 tbs olive oil

Salt and pepper

½ tsp dried Chilli flakes

1 clove garlic

1/3 cup Morlife Certified Organic Quinoa flakes, raw

½ brown onion, finely chopped

½ tsp dried parsley

½ tsp dried oregano

½ cup fresh basil

¼ cup Ricotta

½ cup fresh Spinach, chopped

1 egg

1 tbs Tapioca starch (or corn flour)

¼ cup shredded parmesan

Fresh continental parsley, to serve

Sauce Ingredients:

1 can diced tomatoes

Salt and pepper

1 tbs fresh basil

1 tsp oregano

1) To prepare sauce, combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer for an hour.

2) Pre-heat oven to 180°C.

3) Place into a roasting dish lined with baking paper. Add olive oil and sprinkle with pepper, salt and paprika. Stir and roast for 15 minutes. Remove and cool to room temperature.

4) In a food processor, combine onion, garlic and eggplant and process lightly until combined. You don’t want to over-process and lose all the shape of the eggplant cubes.

5) In a large bowl combine eggplant mixture, cheese, spinach, egg, herbs, quinoa flakes, tapioca starch and half of the parmesan. Season to taste.

6) Refrigerate for about an hour. Roll mixture into small balls and shallow-fry in a small amount of rice bran oil or canola oil (baking option: spray with cooking oil and bake in moderate oven until golden).

7) In a serving dish, add the eggplant balls to the sauce and sprinkle with parsley and the remaining parmesan.