Some years ago, when I worked in Hackney, there was a family-run health food shop near to the office and I was a fairly frequent visitor. Alongside Decaffs with soya milk (don’t do it – it curdles), fruit and veg and branded health foods, the shop sold lentil koftas as made by one of them and lovingly presented with a slice of lemon. I found recipes for them online and tried making my own only to discover that online recipes tell you how to make a million koftas when you actually want 6 or 7 max and they all require you to use bulghur wheat which I can’t find in the shop. The recipe below uses quinoa, which is everywhere and makes enough koftas for a packed lunch plus a few extra to wait in the fridge for you and greet you when you get home.
It’s quinoa, not worms – it just looks like that, OK?
- 50g lentils
- 50g quinoa
- small onion
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- Olive oil for frying
- tomato puree
- fresh herbs (I used dill but mint and coriander are good too)
- Pinch of cumin
- Lemon juice
- Cook the lentils and the quinoa, drain and then mix together in a bowl
- Add lightly fried onion and garlic, tomato puree, herbs, cumin and lemon juice and stir in well
- Form into sausage shapes and leave in the fridge – they should become solid enough for you to pick up to eat (with luck!)
- Serve with lettuce and a squeeze of lemon
