Vegan chicken balls with okara

I initially published this recipe in 2008. I'm back, 19 years later, to tidy up the recipe and writing.

Chicken balls are a Westernised Chinese dish and a staple on Chinese takeaway menus in the UK and elsewhere in the Global North, typically battered and fried and served with sweet and sour or plum sauce. My recipe lies somewhere in between chicken balls and chicken meatballs, workable in either style depending on how you use them after they're prepared.

Recipe notes

The recipe utilises okara, a byproduct of making soy milk, combined with supermarket vegan chicken filets. I generally try to avoid writing recipes that require a specific product, but my preferred vegan chicken here is the Vivera brand chicken breast. Vivera didn't exist when I wrote the initial recipe, so I would have used another brand, but I don't recall which one.

I created this recipe as a basic and mildly flavoured anchor ingredient to be utilised in other dishes. It's not intended to be hugely flavourful on its own, but rather a foundation to be built upon. For instance you can add herbs and/or spices geared toward a specific cuisine. I've used them in place of pakora in kadhi, added rosemary and served them in Italian-American style spaghetti and meatballs, battered and fried them to coat in sweet lemon glaze, and more.

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Vegan chicken balls with okara

I've provided oven baking instructions in the recipe, but you can also fry them in a pan. Add several glugs of vegetable oil and fry, turning often, for 5-10 minutes, until golden. If you would like Chinese takeaway style chicken balls, you can batter them in a potato starch slurry, deep fry, and serve with your favourite dipping sauce.

Servings 15 pieces (approximately)

Ingredients

• 1 Vivera vegan chicken breast approximately 90 grams
• 90 grams fresh okara
• 30 grams chopped onion scant â…" cup
• ½ tablespoon oil plus extra for cooking
• 1 teaspoon miso
• ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
• 30 grams vital wheat gluten approximately 3 tablespoons

Instructions

• Pre-heat the oven to 175 Celsius (350 Fahrenheit).
• Add every ingredient except for the vital wheat gluten to a food processor and process to a sticky paste. Add the vital wheat gluten and process for 30 seconds to combine.
• Scoop out tablespoon sized portions (you can also make them smaller if you'd like) and roll into balls with your palms. Place them on a baking sheet or in a roasting tray, spray or coat with a little bit of oil, and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven and give it a shake to turn the balls over, and bake for a further 15 minutes.