Mercimek köftesi: red lentil and bulgur köfte in lettuce leaves

Mercimek köftesi are the köfte you make when there is no meat in the house and ten people coming for tea. Red lentils and fine bulgur are cooked together into a soft paste, kneaded with onions fried in olive oil, pepper paste and a big handful of herbs, then shaped by hand into little fingers with the print of your palm on them. Nothing is fried or baked. You eat them cold, wrapped in a lettuce leaf with a squeeze of lemon.

Every Gaziantep kitchen has its own version, and every aunt thinks hers is right. Mine is the one my mother made on Sunday mornings for the neighbours' visits, with plenty of onion and enough pepper to make your lips tingle. I have made it in Bristol for school fairs, birthday parties and more office lunches than I can count, and it has never once come back.

The lentils and the bulgur

You need split red lentils and fine bulgur, the tiny-grained kind used for kısır and çiğ köfte. The lentils cook to a soft purée, and then the bulgur goes in off the heat and soaks up the hot, lentil-thick water around it. The proportion matters. Too much water and you get a sticky mass that will not hold a shape; too little and the bulgur stays gritty.

I use 1 cup of red lentils, 3 cups of water and 1 1/2 cups of fine bulgur. Cook the lentils until they have collapsed and most of the water has gone, but the pot still looks loose and wet, like porridge. That last bit of liquid is what softens the bulgur. Stir in the bulgur, put the lid on and walk away for 20 minutes.

The onions are the flavour

Do not skip this or rush it. A large onion, chopped fine, cooked slowly in a generous amount of olive oil until soft and sweet, takes about 10 minutes. Then the pastes go in and fry for a minute or two. This oily, red onion mixture is what seasons the whole batch, and the olive oil is what keeps the köfte moist and tender when they are cold. A recipe that uses two spoons of oil makes dry köfte. You need about a third of a cup.

Knead it properly

I will say this as many times as it takes: knead. When the lentil and bulgur mixture has rested, tip it into a big bowl, add the onion mixture and the spices, and work it with your hands for at least five minutes. Push it with the heel of your hand, fold it, push again. At first it is crumbly and uneven. Slowly it turns smooth, slightly sticky and a uniform orange-red. This is what makes the köfte hold together without egg or flour. If you only stir with a spoon, they crack when you shape them.

Wait until the mixture is warm rather than hot before you add the herbs, or the parsley wilts and turns dark. Spring onions, parsley, a little lemon juice: knead again just until they are spread through.

Texture check: take a walnut-sized piece and squeeze it in your fist. It should hold the shape of your fingers with a smooth surface and no cracks. If it crumbles, knead for longer or add a spoon of warm water. If it sticks badly to your hands, it was too wet; let it stand uncovered for 15 minutes.

Shaping

The traditional shape is the one your hand makes on its own. Take a piece about the size of a large walnut, roughly 25 g, close your fist around it and squeeze once. Open your hand: you have a little oval with ridges from your fingers. Keep a bowl of cold water next to you and dip your hand into it every few köfte so the mixture does not stick. One batch gives about 40 pieces.

If you are making them for a crowd, here is how the morning goes in my kitchen.

Recipe

Mercimek köftesi (red lentil and bulgur köfte)

About 40 köfte, serves 8 as part of a spread

Prep

40 min

Cook

25 min

Rest

20 min

Total

1 hr 25 min

Amounts in

cups & spoons grams & ml

Köfte

• 1 cup190 g split red lentils, rinsed
• 3 cups720 ml water
• 1 1/2 cups255 g fine bulgur
• 1/3 cup80 ml olive oil
• 1 large1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp15 g Turkish red pepper paste (biber salçası)
• 1 tbsp15 g tomato paste
• 1 1/2 tsp8 g salt
• 2 tsp4 g ground cumin
• 1 to 2 tsp2 to 4 g pul biber (Turkish red pepper flakes)
• 66 spring onions, finely sliced
• 1/2 bunch30 g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp30 ml lemon juice

To serve

• 1 head1 head romaine lettuce, leaves separated
• 22 lemons, cut into wedges

Method

1. Put the lentils and water in a pot, bring to the boil, skim off the foam and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring now and then, until the lentils have collapsed and the pot looks like loose porridge.
2. Take the pot off the heat, stir in the bulgur, cover with the lid and leave for 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, warm the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and cook the onion for about 10 minutes, until soft and golden.
4. Add the pepper paste and tomato paste to the onion and fry for 2 minutes, stirring, until the oil turns red.
5. Tip the lentil and bulgur mixture into a large bowl, add the onion mixture, salt, cumin and pul biber.
6. Knead with your hands for at least 5 minutes, until smooth, slightly sticky and an even orange-red.
7. When the mixture is just warm, add the spring onions, parsley and lemon juice and knead briefly to spread them through.
8. Squeeze a walnut-sized piece in your fist to check it holds without cracking; knead longer or add a spoon of warm water if it crumbles.
9. With damp hands, take pieces of about 25 g and squeeze each once in your fist to make finger-marked ovals.
10. Arrange the köfte on lettuce leaves on a platter and serve at room temperature with lemon wedges.

Cook's notes

• They keep for two days in the fridge, covered; bring them back to room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.
• For a milder batch for children, use sweet pepper paste and leave out the pul biber.

When the mixture misbehaves

Most problems show up while you are shaping, and nearly all of them can be rescued.

• Too soft and sticky to hold a shape. The lentils had too much water left when the bulgur went in. Spread the mixture out in the bowl and leave it uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes; the bulgur keeps absorbing as it cools.
• Crumbly, cracking at the edges. Either the bulgur did not soften fully or you did not knead long enough. Knead for another three minutes with wet hands before you add anything else.
• Gritty bite. The bulgur was added to a pot that had already dried out. Sprinkle over 3 or 4 tablespoons of hot water, cover the bowl for 10 minutes, then knead again.
• Bland. Cold food needs more seasoning than hot food. Taste a small piece once it has cooled and add salt, cumin and lemon until it tastes slightly too strong when warm.

Ways to change it

Some cooks add a tablespoon of pomegranate molasses with the lemon, which gives a sweet-sour edge I like in summer. Dried mint, a teaspoon kneaded in with the spices, is common in some families. Chopped fresh mint or dill can stand in for part of the parsley. For more heat, use hot pepper paste or more pul biber; for no heat at all, see the tip in the recipe.

Mercimek köftesi are close relatives of the meatless çiğ köfte, which skips the lentils and relies on long kneading of bulgur with paste and spices. If you like this, you will like that one too. They are distant cousins of içli köfte, which are a much bigger project.

Serving and storing

Serve them at room temperature on a bed of lettuce, with lemon wedges, and let people wrap their own. They sit beautifully next to kısır on a tea table, along with börek, olives and white cheese. They are also a good packed lunch, since they travel without falling apart.

Leftover mixture that you have not shaped keeps for two days in a covered bowl in the fridge; knead it again briefly before shaping, as it firms up. I do not freeze them: the herbs go dark and the texture turns grainy when they thaw. Better to make half a batch and eat them all.