Hi everyone Merhaba this is Aysenur Altan
welcome to Turkish Food Recipes
In this episode, we are making mercimek koftesi
It is lentil balls or lentil kofte lets say
with simple ingredients, easy to make and
delicious taste, it is very popular in ladies
tea parties and it is a vegan recipe too.
So let's get started.
I have one cup of red lentils
I have washed and rinsed.
I am going to add two cups of water but after
cooking it I added half a cup more.
So you can add 2+1/2 cups in the beginning.
just add a pinch of salt and cook it until
it is soft for about 20 minutes.
I used a pressure cooker to make it quicker
but it is optional.
And add 1 cup of thin bulgur wheat.
Mix well
And here I decided to add half a cup more.
YOu gonna see it now.
Because the bulgur wheat will soak the juice
of the lentils and get thicker.
I closing the lid and let it sit for half
an hour until it soaked all the juice.
Meanwhile, I am gonna prepare the sauce.
Which is simply olive oil and one onion.
After I saute it for 4-5 minutes, I am adding
the tomato and red pepper paste.
It is close to 1 tbsp.
The pepper paste is optional I know that many
of you can't find it.
You can use just tomato paste and for the
spices, I am using paprika, ground cumin and
salt.
My paprika is hot but since my red pepper
paste is also hot I didn't use that much.
You can adjust to your taste.
I am also going to add a handful of chopped
parsley.
YOu can add scallions too.
I didn't prefer because of the health problems,
heartburn since it is gonna be fresh.
After sauteing everything I added half a cup
more water and cook until everything combines
about 1 to 2 minutes.
Now we can put everything together in a big
bowl.
Here is my lentil and bulgur mixture.
And here is the sauce
I wanted to get all the juices as much as
I can so I am adding a little bit of the lentil
mixture, mix everything and then put it back.
As you can see it soaked all the sauce.
Now I am going to mix everything well.
You can use your hand or stand mixer and if
it seems dry you can add a little bit more
hot water to give a consistency like wet sand
that you can shape it.
And also you can taste the mixture before
shaping it and add more seasonings or salt
if needed.
If you like you can make it a little bit more
oily by adding more olive oil so it is a versatile
recipe just make sure that the mixture is
on the wet side not dry.
Now I am going to shape it after adding a
bit more olive oil about 3 tbsp
Adding extra olive oil at the end will help
to shape it make it shinier.
And here is our mixture ready to shape it
In a small bowl, I have water.
I am gonna dip my hand before shaping it to
help unstick the lentil kofta mixture to my
hands.
The traditional way of shaping it is like
a long oval shape but of course, you can shape
it like a ball too.
And it looks very pretty like this.
Make sure you serve it with lemon wedges and
crispy lettuce and enjoy your lentil koftes,
"mercimek köftesi" in Turkish at any time
of the day with some Turkish tea or as a light
lunch.
I hope you try it.
Please let me know how it turn out and if
you have similar recipes in your culture,
where you live please share it too.
Thanks for watching it.
I hope to see you in another delicious Turkish
Food Recipes and Vlogs.
Afiyet Olsun!
(Enjoy It)
