Chickpea and rice balls

All you need is a few extra ingredients to upgrade this starter to a light meal. You can also get creative and playful by transforming this dish into a larger tapas-style platter with a selection of dips. Yum!

Preparation Time: 15 min.
Cooking Time: 40 min.
Servings: 4

INGREDIENTS

100g cooked brown rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 onion, finely chopped
1 chopped red chili
2 deseeded tomatoes, chopped
1 can organic, no-salt chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 egg yolk
Handful chopped coriander, basil or oregano/thyme (depending what you are serving it with and your personal taste)
½ teaspoon paprika

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 180°C. Heat oil in a pan, add onion, and fry gently for 5 minutes. Add garlic and chili and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and add tomatoes. Mash chickpeas in a separate large bowl or in a blender as they need to be fairly smooth. Add the onion mixture from the pan to the chickpeas in the bowl, then add the rice, egg yolk, coriander, paprika and season with sea salt/pepper to taste. Mix all the ingredients together. Divide the mix into 12 even sized balls and place on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Bake for 30 minutes, turning occasionally. Serve immediately.


Minced meat with lentils	Boiled beans with baked ham	Lentil (puy), Spinach & Tomato Soup	Espinacas con Garbanzos (Spinach with Chickpeas)
This is an unusual, yet an interesting combination of ingredients and tastes, that provides the organism with valuable nutrients, as it is a great source of protein and monounsaturated fat.	In addition to conventional antioxidant nutrients like vitamin C and beta-carotene, green beans contain a wide variety of carotenoids and flavonoids that have all been shown to have health-supportive antioxidant propertie.	Looking for ideas for office or on-the-go lunch? We suggest you try this super healthy and low-fat lunch that can be taken in a flask. (If puy lentils aren’t available it works equally well with red split lentils.)	Although originally from North Africa, this dish is a Spanish classic and is served in most tapas bars. At home, it is usually served as a side dish to meat, however, it works equally well as a sharing dish or light meal.