italiano /
When I went to the famous Toso drugstore the other day, I was so fascinated by all those jars filled with all kinds of spices that I didn’t only buy curcuma _ which I am using to season every kind of dish _ but a whole variety: coriander, hot and mild curry, cumin powder, paprika, multi-coloured pepper…
Back home I immediately went through my countless cookbooks and I came across this delicious Turkish recipe: vegetarian dumplings, to be served cold… So let’s get ready with some light recipes… while waiting for summer!
MERCIMEK KÖFTESI | spiced red lentil and bulgur dumplings
Ingredients
(for 4/6 persons)
400 g red lentils
100 g bulgur
3 spring onions
1/2 cup of tomato sauce
1 tsp of paprika powder
1 tsp of cumin powder
1 tsp of black pepper
one handful of chopped fresh parsley
Preparation
Wash the lentils and the bulgur. Put the lentils in a pot with three cups of water and cook for 10 minutes over medium heat. Add the bulgur and let cook for additional 2/3 minutes. Take off the heat, cover, and leave to cool for about 20 minutes, in order to let the bulgur absorb the remaining water. Once the mixture is cold, add the chopped spring onions, the tomato sauce, the spices, the chopped parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix well and put in the fridge for about 1 hour. With your hands wet _ this is important to avoid having the mixture stick to your hands! _ take one spoonful of mixture at a time and form into dumplings. Cover and keep in the fridge until served.
Serve the dumplings on a tray and decorate with lemon wedges.
