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This dish is quite simple to make. They look like meatballs but are full of mushroom flavor because they are almost all mushroom. The miso adds some salt and you can add freshly ground black pepper, too, if it suits you. I served them at a potluck and many of the vegetarians and vegans didn’t eat them because they thought that they were made of meat.
This recipe appears in my cookbook Nutrition CHAMPS.
Recipe
Ingredients
1 ounce mixed dried wild mushrooms, such as porcini or a mixed bag of them
5–6 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 tablespoon olive or other oil
½ medium onion, diced
5–6 ounces sliced crimini mushrooms
2 teaspoons tamari or soy sauce
3 tablespoons Italian parsley
2–3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon mellow white miso
1 cup quick or baby rolled oats
1 tablespoon oil for sautéing un-meatballs
Instructions
Soak dried mushrooms in hot water until they are pliable, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Drain the mushrooms,(saving the soaking water for a wonderful mushroom broth
or soup) and roughly chop. Set mushrooms aside.
Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Add the onion and sauté for
a minute or two. Add the sliced crimini mushrooms and sauté until they start
browning and releasing some liquid, about 5–7 minutes. Add the rehydrated
mushrooms and tamari. Sauté another few minutes until all the mushrooms seem cooked through and there is no liquid in the pan.
Pulse the cooked mushrooms in the food processor until they are finely chopped
and put into a bowl.
In the same food processor, add the parsley and pulse until finely chopped. Add to the mushrooms. Pulse the garlic and then add the miso and pulse one more time.
Add the miso and garlic to the mushrooms. Stir the oats into the mushrooms and mix well.
Let sit for a few minutes so that the oats can absorb some of the mushroom liquid. Form into balls about 1-inch in diameter. The mushroom mixture should be fairly dry and easy to work with. If you find that it’s too sticky, you can add more oats.
Heat the remaining tablespoon oil over medium high heat. Add the un-meatballs in batches to the hot pan and brown on all sides. Serve warm.
Note: I made these in a nonstick pan and it worked really well. If I had more time, I might have made chutney to go with these meatballs or a sweet, sundried tomato “ketchup.” You also can bake the “meatballs” on parchment in a 350˚F oven for 15–20 minutes, or use your air fryer and cook in batches.
