Mercimek Köftesi Turkish Red Lentil Kofte (vegan)

Total Time: 55 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup red lentil
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup fine bulgur
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 -2 teaspoon lemon juice (juice of half or whole lemon to your taste)
• 2 -3 tablespoons fresh parsley (approx, divided)
• 1/4 cup green onion, chopped (about 4-5 green onions, parts cut off)
• 7 curly lettuce leaves (like whole romaine or boston, need nice big ones)

Recipe

• 1 boil the lentils in the water, uncovered, until they soak up most of the water, about 25-30 minutes.
• 2 add the bulgar and salt. mix once and loosely cover to let the bulgar expand, then remove from the heat and let rest on a potholder about 10 minutes to let it cool off.
• 3 heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the chopped onion and cook until soft, about 10-15 minutes.
• 4 add the tomato paste and cook another 1-2 minutes.
• 5 add the cumin and remove pan from heat. stir once the heat is off.
• 6 add the onion-tomato paste-cumin mixture to the pot with lentils and bulgar, which should be cool by now. add a few shakes of cayenne pepper to heat it up if you like.
• 7 add half of your parsley (about 1-1.5 tablespoons worth), the green onions, and lemon juice to the pot, and mix well.
• 8 take pieces of the kofte out of the pot and form them into kofte shape. the same size and shape as a twinkie works, though traditional kofte is about half the size of a twinkie.
• 9 you can then arrange the lettuce leaves on a big plate and serve that way, but the real deal way to eat them is wrapping each kofte up in a lettuce leaf.