Mercimek Köftesi (Turkish Red Lentil Patties)

Ingredients

• 200 g red lentils, rinsed until the water runs clear
• 7 dl water
• 150 g bulgur, the finest grade you can find
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, very finely chopped
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp red pepper paste
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp aleppo pepper
• 1½ tsp salt
• 4 spring onion, thinly sliced
• 5 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 lettuce, leaves separated and washed

Method

1. 1.

   Cook the lentils down — Put the rinsed lentils in a pan with the water and bring to a boil. Simmer half-covered for 20-25 minutes, stirring now and then and scraping the base, until the lentils have collapsed into a thick purée and almost no free liquid is left.

2. 2.

   Steep the bulgur — Take the pan off the heat, stir the fine bulgur straight into the hot lentils, clamp the lid on and leave for 30 minutes. The bulgur drinks up the last of the moisture and swells, and the mixture cools to a temperature your hands can work with.

3. 3.

   Fry the onion and pastes — Meanwhile, soften the onion in the olive oil in a small pan over medium-low heat for 8-10 minutes, until translucent and sweet with no colour. Stir in the tomato paste, red pepper paste, cumin and aleppo pepper and fry 2 minutes more, until the oil runs red around the edges.

4. 4.

   Knead to a soft dough — Scrape the onion mixture into the lentils, add the salt and knead with one hand for 3-4 minutes, pressing and folding, until the colour is even and the mixture holds together like a soft dough. If it feels dry, wet your hand and keep working it.

5. 5.

   Stir in herbs and lemon — Work in the spring onions, parsley and lemon juice last, off the heat, so they stay bright green and sharp. Taste and adjust — it should read salty, sour and faintly smoky, and it will taste milder once cold, so err on the bold side.

6. 6.

   Shape in your fist — Squeeze walnut-sized pieces of the mixture inside your closed fist to make short torpedoes with your finger ridges pressed into the sides — that indented shape is the whole point. Chill for 30 minutes and serve cold, each one sitting in a lettuce leaf to be wrapped and eaten by hand.