Almost Raw Tuna and Butterbean Balls

Hello hungry friends! I feel so much better after a good few days of healthy eating. Routine is so much easier for knowing when and what one is going to eat. I know, for example, that, on a regular day, I will have breakfast around 8am; a fruit snack and a cup of Earl Grey tea around 10.30am; lunch at midday and a cup of white tea; a healthy snack of fruit again or a healthy treat, with a cup of regular tea, after collecting my boys from school, around 3.45pm; then dinner at about 5.45pm. This is topped off with a square of dark chocolate and a mug of green tea! Does that sound regimented? It actually isn’t, but is a routine I have slipped into. It completely corresponds with when I feel hungry, and each time I eat a sufficient amount, relating to the time of day.

If you follow my Facebook page, you’ll know I promised some healthy, post-holiday recipes for lunchtime. Well here’s one I threw together, quite literally, today. It is actually a very substantial meal for lunch, even though it doesn’t look particularly large. In the photo I have used five balls out of the six the recipe makes, but I ended up only eating three of them, and saving the other three for tomorrow. They are definitely filling! So you could do this too, or make it as a meal for two with three balls per person. Feel free to add your own choice of herbs and spices, and if you want it to be vegetarian, omit the tuna and use more butterbeans, sun-dried tomatoes and maybe a dash more feta. I’d love to know what you add to yours so please leave a comment in the box.

Ingredients

• 1/2 tin of tuna
• 2/3 tin of butterbeans, drained and rinsed
• 5 large sun-dried tomatoes from a jar, plus 1 tbsp jar oil
• 1 spring onion, chopped
• About 3″ length of courgette, grated
• About 50g feta, chopped or crumbled
• 1/3 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/3 tsp ground coriander
• Salt and pepper

Equipment

• Food processor

Method

Put the butterbeans in a food processor with the paprika and salt and pepper. Blitz then scrape the sides to bring the mixture into the centre again.

Add the sun-dried tomatoes plus the oil from the jar and blitz again. This will bring the mixture together.  Scrape down the sides again.

Add the remaining ingredients then pulse until coming together nicely yet still containing lumps.

Using a dessert spoon, take heaped spoonfuls and shape into six balls. Serve with some lovely green leaves and a colourful raw veggie. I served it with beetroot. I think a side of sun-dried tomatoes would also be delicious.

This is a really simple recipe with easy-going flavours. It could definitely be made more punchy with the addition of some chilli flakes, but the flavour you will get from following the recipe is mild but tasty. I hope you enjoy them 🙂

Thanks for reading, your time is so precious, I know.

xxx Sam