Spaghetti with Veggie 'meatballs'

Happy New Year everyone! 

I know we all seem to be off to a rocky start with the new variant and even more permutations and combinations are all over the news but I hope we can see the light at the end of this tunnel during this year and return to normalcy soon...

Coming to recipes, this ought to have made it in the 2021 list and has been in my drafts for several months... mainly because this has been such a hit at home and something we make frequently... so I've been wanting to document it here. I basically followed this awesome recipe but I have made some tweaks to suit our tastes and spice it up a bit more. 

You can make the mixture a few days before  making the "meatballs" or even make them as "meatballs" and store in the refrigerator or freeze for a longer duration making it a meal that came come together very easily. 

Spaghetti with Meatless "Meatballs"

Makes about 20-24 meatballs 

Ingredients:

White Mushrooms - 16 oz, wiped thoroughly and chopped finely
Onion - 1/2 cup, chopped finely
Garlic - 6 cloves, minced
Rolled Oats - 1/2 cup
Bread crumbs - 1/2 cup
Parmesan cheese - 4 tbsp, grated 
Egg - 1

Butter - 1 tbsp
Olive oil - 1 tbsp 
Salt - 1 tsp, or to taste
Red chilli flakes - 1 tsp, or to taste
Paprika - half tsp
Oregano and Basil (dried) -  half tsp each
Black pepper - to taste

To serve:
Spaghetti - 1 pack
Pasta sauce (tomato  based) of your choice - 1  bottle 
Parmesan cheese - for garnish

Directions:
1)  Heat olive oil in a pan on medium, add onions and mushrooms along with salt and allow this to cook until they cook down and all the moisture has evaporated. Stir in the garlic and butter. Switch off the stove. 

2)  Next, add in the , oats, bread crumbs, red chilli flakes, paprika, oregano, basil and black pepper and finally add the egg and parmesan cheese and stir everything together. This will create a moist mixture which holds together. 

3) You could make meatballs right away but it's better to cover and refrigerate this for a few hours atleast or a day if you can spare it. 

4)Take small portions of the mixture and form balls. Place them on the basket of an airfyer and Air fry at 350F for 15 minutes. They are now done and are quite delicious as an appetizer served with some marinara.

5) Cook spaghetti according to package directions with some salt and warm up the tomato sauce. Add the meat balls to the tomato sauce when it's hot and let them marinate in it for 10 minutes at least. 

6) To serve, place some spaghetti in a bowl and ladle out the sauce and meatballs and add some grated parmesan to top. Enjoy.