Turkish Red Lentil "Meatballs"

For once, I'm actually posting a holiday-centric recipe before the holiday.  These nutritious patties work great as part of a Purim vegan spread.  I made some tzatziki sauce as a dip, so these are only vegetarian, but you could substitute something dairy-free like Harissa, pomegranate molasses, mustard, or even soy sauce.  Honestly, they're so flavorful that they don't need any help.

For about a month, Sprouts had bulgur in a scooping bin.  The day I went, they had portioned out the remainder into one-pound packages.  Not only were they twice the cost per pound, but I now have to use it all somehow.  That's a lot of lentil meatballs.  If I knew I had to buy that much, I would have gone to Super Sun and bought the fine bulgur the recipe calls for.  Since this is medium grade, I tossed it in during the last five minutes of cooking with the lentils, then let everything stand.

I'm using the version posted in Give Recipe, a blog written by a Turk.  Her platter looks a lot better than mine, but I was just making this for me.  For two or more, it would have gotten impressive.

This was also the last thing I cooked before heading off on a long-delayed vacation.  I haven't taken off more than an occasional day since last March.  Maxed out my vacation hours at 5 weeks.  Using almost half of it now.  As much as I've been eating veg/vegan lately, I'm not restricting myself to it on a cruise.  I'll probably eat the vegan small plates at lunch, but dinner is likely going to involve meat 5-7 of the days.  I'll make up for it when I get back.  I'm not sure if I'll have cell service in Mexico, and blogging on a phone sucks.  I might be able to post a photo or two.

This is a half recipe of Zerrin's.  I found that it made quite a lot, enough for a 4-person main protein or a whole party of hors d'oeuvres.

1/2 C dry red lentils
3/4 C dry fine bulgur
2 C water
1/4 C olive oil
*1/2 large onion, minced
1 Tb tomato paste
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
dash black pepper
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
2 Tb finely chopped parsley
1 stalk green onion, finely chopped
1 Tb lemon juice, or to taste
lettuce leaves for serving

1.  Rinse lentils.  Stir together with water in a large saucepan.  Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat and cook until done, about 12 minutes.  If you could only find medium bulgur, stir it in when the lentils are starting to soften and split.  For fine bulgur, stir it in just as the lentils are done.  Remove from the heat when the lentils are done and allow to sit until all water is absorbed, 10-15 minutes.

2.  While the lentil mix is resting, cook the onions in 3 Tb oil until softened.  Add tomato paste, cumin, chili powder, and pepper and cook until fragrant.

3.  Stir onion mix and remaining ingredients into lentil mix.  Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

4.  Use remaining oil to grease your hands.  Form mixture into balls or kofta shapes (ovals).  Place on lettuce leaves and serve either warm or chilled.  These will fall apart if they're not served on something edible.  Lettuce cups are traditional and easiest, but you could also fill celery with it, or cucumber boats, or anything else that won't let it squish out the other side.  They're often served as part of a tapas plate with vegetables, herbs, and dips.  Pickles are a common side, so I cracked open the smaller jar of pickled radishes.  Found out they really take on the peppercorn flavor, so I'll cut down on that next time.  I also felt like having some Persian rice, which was kind of too much starch, but really good.

Difficulty rating :)