- Johnny Roberts
Vegan black bean and quinoa balls with buckwheat spaghetti

Welcome to one my favourite dishes. This one really is such a tasty one! It's classic Italian comfort food at it's best but made a bit lighter with the addition of it being vegan. These balls are great in pasta's as you can see here or also as comforting in a falafel or just as a side dish with a nice dip.
Ingredients
4 zucchinis or 350g of buckwheat pasta
For the black bean and quinoa balls
1/2 cup of quinoa
1 can of black beans
1/4 cup of sesame seeds
1/4 cup of oat flour or bread crumbs
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tbsp Sriracha
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp garlic powder
1,5 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (oregano, sage, rosemary, basil)
salt, pepper
For the sun-dried tomato sauce
1/2 cup of halved cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup of sun-dried tomatoes
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 clove of garlic
2 tbsp toasted pine nuts
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
handful of fresh basil
1 tsp oregano
salt, pepper
To serve
fresh basil
1/2 cup of halved cherry tomatoes
Instructions
Black bean and quinoa balls
Add quinoa and one cup of water to a pot and cook for about 15 minutes. Drain any excess water and let cool a bit.
Meanwhile add black beans to a bowl and mash coarsely with a potato masher or a fork. Add quinoa, sesame seeds, oat flour or bread crumbs, tomato paste, Sriracha, nutritional yeast and spices and mix well together. Use your hands to make it into a mouldable dough.
Scoop out about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into balls (about 22-25 total). Place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
Bake at 200°C/400ºF for 35-40 minutes, or until crispy.
Sun-dried tomato paste
1. Place sauce ingredients in a food processor and blend until creamy.
Pasta
1. Spiralize zucchinis and place in a large bowl, or prepare your pasta according to package instructions.
Assembly
1. Add sun-dried tomato sauce and cherry tomatoes to zucchini/pasta and mix well. To serve, top zucchini/pasta with 4-5 balls per serving and sprinkle with fresh basil. Enjoy!