Vegan Köttbullar (swedish meatballs) with cream sauce
I'm always happy about new vegan dishes at IKEA. So I was over the moon in 2015 when IKEA announced to sell vegan köttbullar (i.e., Grönsaksbullar) soon. I dreamed about dipping the vegetable balls into lingonberry jam and cream sauce until I realized that there won't be any vegan cream sauce for me. Instead, the veggie balls were served with grains, sour cream, and curry sauce, which sounds and tasted just wrong.
Veggie balls and cream sauce is and will always remain as the best combination. Until IKEA finally takes this step, we simply make the dish ourselves at home. For the recipe, I carefully read about the vegetables IKEA uses for the meatballs. With the help of chickpea flour (soy flour also works) and breadcrumbs, I formed small balls and fried them in a coated pan. You can use soy cream or oat cream for the cream sauce, or whatever fits best for you.
Vegan Köttbullar (swedish meatballs) with cream sauce
Ingredients
- 100 g lingonberry jelly
- 2 sprigs fresh parsley
- vegetable oil for frying
mashed potatoes
- 1000 g (35.2 oz) floury potatoes
- 100 ml (0.4 cups) plant-based milk
- 2 tbsp vegetable butter
- 1 pinch of nutmeg
- salt & pepper
Köttbullar
- 1 onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 100 g (3.5 oz) chickpeas (canned)
- 100 g (3.5 oz) sweet corn
- 100 g (3.5 oz) peas
- 100 g (3.5 oz) carrot
- 100 g (3.5 oz) bell pepper
- 100 g (3.5 oz) kale (or spinach, savoy cabbage)
- 50 g (1.7 oz) chickpea flour
- 25 g (0.8 oz) breadcrumbs
- salt & pepper
cream sauce
- 3 tbsp vegan butter
- 4 tbsp wheat flour
- min. 300 ml (1.2 cups) vegetable broth
- 250 ml (1 cup) plant-based cooking cream
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 pinch of nutmeg
- salt & pepper
Instructions
Mashed potatoes
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Peel the potatoes cut them into small pieces, and cook for 20-30 minutes until soft.
- Then mash with a potato masher and season with plant-based milk, plant-based butter, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
vegan meat balls
- Peel and chop the onion and garlic.
- Drain the chickpeas, sweet corn, and peas.
- Peel the carrot and cut it into fine cubes. Wash and finely chop the bell pepper.
- Remove the outer leaves of the kale (or savoy cabbage), wash, and cut into thin slices.
- Place all vegetables for the vegan meatballs in a bowl and mash 1/3 with an immersion blender. It should be easy now to form balls. Still, small veggie bits should be visible.
- Add chickpea flour, breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper and let rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes (during this time prepare the cream sauce).
- Form 16 balls and fry in a pan with oil (use a coated pan). After frying, drain the balls on a kitchen towel and let them rest again for 5 minutes before serving.
cream sauce
- Melt the vegan butter in a small saucepan and add the flour, stirring constantly.
- If a smooth mass has formed, pour vegetable broth and plant-based cream, with constant stirring.
- Add soy sauce, tomato paste, bay leaf, nutmeg, salt, and pepper and let simmer for 10 minutes. Keep stirring! If the sauce becomes too thick, add a little more vegetable stock.
- Serve the mashed potatoes with the meatballs, the cream sauce, and lingonberry jelly. Serve with fresh parsley.
