Chickpea Balls

Yep, I cut 'em right off the chickpeas, no anaesthetic.

Chickpea Balls

1 19oz can of chickpeas, almost completely drained
1/4 cup of crumbled herb tofu
1/4 white onion, diced
handful of cilantro, finely shredded
1 Tbsp Tahini
1 large eggwhite, beaten
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup breadcrumbs plus extra
olive oil

Tziki (sp?)
Slices of tomato

Empty chickpeas into a bowl and mash with a fork, spoon or potato masher until pasty, add in tofu, onion and cilantro and salt and mash, mash, mash.
Stir in tahini--make sure you stir it in the jar, and get all the gunk at the bottom of the jar.
Stir in the eggwhite and mash everything around again.
Add in the breadcrumbs gradually until the mixture starts to feel stiff, kinda like hamburger meat when it's ready to get shaped into patties.

Heat up a pan (medium-high heat) and splash some oil in the bottom, swirl around. Taking a tablespoon or a tablespoon and a half at a time, form rough balls (no point in rolling them between your palms, you'll just get dirty hands) and drop them in the hot pan. Swirl the oil around so that they sizzle and roll the balls around so they brown evenly on all sides. Makes about 20 balls...good leftovers!

I served this with tziki and slices of tomato and a small spinach salad...apparently it's a Renee-sized meal and needs a bit more to be really substantial (aside from eating a ridiculous number of chickpea balls). Mmmmm, the cilantro really does it!