Tomato balls

You may find the process for making these Italian tomato balls complicated, but it’s worth the effort. This very delicious meal made of rice and grilled vegetables will become a must-have item on your menu.

Preparation time: 60 minutes
Servings: 12-14 balls

Ingredients for grilled vegetables:
1 yellow pepper, chopped into very small dices
1 zucchini, chopped into very small dices
280 g cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
3 tbsp olive oil

Risotto ingredients:
200 g parboiled brown rice
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
4 tbsp tomato juice
500 ml vegetable broth
50 g tapioca starch
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
salt and black pepper (to taste)

Balls ingredients:
100 g gluten-free breadcrumbs (Combination of buckwheat and millet breadcrumbs)
2 eggs, scrambled

Instructions:
1. Heat the oven at 180 °C.
2. Arrange the pieces of pepper, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes in a pan, then coat everything with olive oil and leave to bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.
3. While the vegetables bake, mix the tomato juice, vegetable broth, and apple cider vinegar in a deeper pan. Leave to boil, then add the rice, stir and lower the temperature, cover with a lid and leave to cook until the rice softens, for about 10 minutes or by packaging instructions.
4. Add the baked vegetables, tapioca starch, and nutritional yeast, season with salt and black pepper to taste, stir everything well and leave to cool down.
5. Pour the breadcrumbs into one bowl, and scramble the eggs in another.
6. Shape the balls from the rice mixture in the size of a golf ball, then roll them in the eggs, and after that in the breadcrumbs.
7. Place the balls in a pan lined with baking paper and bake them in the oven for about 15 minutes at 180 °C, with the fan on.
8. Serve with the sauce made of red pepper in tomato sauce, simmered in coconut oil, seasoned with salt, black pepper, and basil. Enjoy!