Balls.

If you're following my posts (and I hope you are ;) you're now probably well-versed on how to properly treat your nuts. It only seems natural then to post something on balls! Hey, eating clean doesn't mean we can't be a little dirty too, right?

These lovely balls are a favourite in our house, and are on a regular rotation. On noodles, wrapped in a..wrap, or just as a quick snack, these tasty, nutritious, and incredibly flexible meatless meatballs make marvelous meals. Mmmm.

This is one of those great 'clean out the fridge' recipes, consisting of whichever veggies you have lying around. As such, the taste of these balls, although always delicious, is never quite the same. I think this is a good thing..unless, of course, you're trying to create a proper recipe to share with your friends!

The base of this recipe is sunflower seeds (soaked and sprouted if possible). Sunflower seeds are a staple in our kitchen as they are both flexible and relatively inexpensive. They also contain a large amount of vitamin E, which is a strong antioxidant and anti inflammatory. Check out the World's Healthiest Foods site for much more information.

The rest of this recipe is mostly veggies and seasoning, so you can see why it's so flexible. As with all my 'raw' recipes, this one can be done in the oven or dehydrator.

This is probably a good time to have a quick chat about dehydration. If you don't have a dehydrator, I would strongly recommend one. They are awesome. There are many dehydrators on the market, but the Excalibur is pretty much the one to get. Of course, that's just my opinion...and the opinion of EVERYONE that has one :)

The role of a dehydrator in raw food recipes is basically similar to that of a stove, oven and even (gasp) microwave in conventional cooking. The dehydrator provides a source of gentle heat to preserve, 'bake' and warm up cold, raw foods and give foods a 'cooked' taste while still preserving those healthy, living enzymes. There is much debate over the maximum temperature that you can heat a food before the enzymes start to denature. As every enzyme is different, the temperature varies as well. As such, the 'common' temperature is around 118 F. As you can imagine, 'cooking' at that temperature takes quite a long time. Therefore, a two-temperature system is often used. The two-temperature method involves dehydrating at a higher temperature, usually 145 F, for only the first forty-five minutes of dehydrating, and then turning down the temp to around 115 F for the remainder of the process. During the first part of dehydrating, the temperature of the food doesn't reach that critical 118 F temperature, so there's no harm to the living enzymes. With this method, the drying time will be significantly reduced while still ensuring that the foods produced are both raw and living. I should note here that some folks extend that first time to two hours before knocking the temperature down. I play it safe and do forty-five, but go with whatever you're comfortable with...or a food thermometer and a timer ;)

'Sunballs'

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups sunflower seeds (soaked for 4 hours, sprouted if possible)
1/4 cup oil of your choice (olive, sunflower, sesame, etc)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tsp tamari or Bragg's aminos
2 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 cup yellow onion, chopped
1 cup assorted veggies
1/2 cup parsley (I'll often add a 1/2 cup of chard. Why? It's amazing, that's why)
6 tbsp (90 mL) chives*
6 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp chili powder (to taste..or lack thereof. This amount gives a decent kick, so you may want to start with 1 tbsp)
2 tsp cumin*
Pepper to taste
3/4 cup flax meal

* Feel free to mix up the seasonings! Add some fresh mint for a more Greek 'Keftedes' or do a more classic Italian mix of parsley, thyme, rosemary, oregano, and fennel.

Directions

Add soaked sunflower seeds, oil, and vinegar to food processor and blend into a rough butter. Set aside.
Add the remaining ingredients, except flaxmeal, to processor and pulse into a fairly-fine consistency. You don't want any big chunks..or maybe you do..I'm not here to judge.
In a large bowl, combine sunbutter and veggie mangle. Stir in flaxmeal.
Allow the mixture to firm up a bit before you start handling the balls. Wink wink.
The balls can be whatever size (or shape) you want. I once made little sausage shapes. Paired it with a cauliflower mash. Boom! Raw bangers and mash! Just consider the size into your cooking/dehydrating time.
Dehydrate until the outside is dry and firm, while the inside is still soft: 45 minutes at 145F, then around 6 hours at 115 F.