Turkish Lentil Meatball aka Mercimek Koftesi is a fantastic party food. These are super easy and inexpensive to prepare and loved by everyone. Nobody is able to stop once they try one.
If bulgur is a new food for you, go check out our basic way to cook bulgur. You will see how easy it is to prepare bulgur wheat recipes. Two of our favorites are bulgur salad with herbs and bulgur rice.
Mercimek koftesi, as we say in Turkish, is one of the most popular Turkish recipes that is served at potluck parties. We make it quite often. We love when we have finger foods ready in the refrigerator. Whenever we feel hungry or just crave for something savory, we grab two or three and only then continue what we are doing.
Although these “meatballs” are made with bulgur and red lentils, I don’t know why but their name focuses only on lentils. In Turkey, these are called “mercimek koftesi” meaning lentil meatballs but I think these are the cousins of fine bulgur cig kofte, one of the best bulgur recipes. These are almost uncooked and served cold as an appetizer.
Although these Turkish vegan lentil meatballs are traditionally served in finger shape, we love them in ball shape too. Also we never serve them on their own in Turkey. Lettuce leaves and pickles are staple foods when you serve mercimek koftesi. You can enrich your table with herbs and salads depending on your taste. We do love pairing them with sumac onions.
Party foods always need some sauces, don’t they? We love to serve homemade pomegranate molasses with these Uh-mazing bulgur and lentil meatballs.
We have a traditional way of eating mercimek koftesi. Place one in a lettuce leaf, drizzle pomegranate molasses or squeeze lemon on it and throw into your mouth. Repeat as needed!
What’s great about these lentil meatballs is that they are healthy. Red lentils are rich in protein and fiber. Bulgur is a good source of healthy carbs. I mean the only unhealthy part is that these are so addictive that you can’t stop once you start eating.
Another tradition in Turkey is to serve tea with or after them. Bulgur easily makes you feel full and if you can not dominate your appetite and eat too much, you may feel bad, have some trouble with your stomach. In this case, a well-brewed Turkish black tea is your life saver. It definitely relaxes your stomach.
Another great thing about these vegan lentil balls is that you can make them a day or two beforehand and serve on the party day. These taste even better when served after a day or two. These store really well in the refrigerator for several days.
If you are looking for a good snack for your next party, you have to try these. I promise these will rock no matter your guests are vegan or not.
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Turkish Mercimek Koftesi
Vegan meatballs with bulgur, red lentils, herbs and spices. Perfect for your next party.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Snack
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: Turkish
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 and ½ cup red lentils
- 3 and ½ cups water
- 1 cup fine bulgur
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ cup parsley, chopped
- ¼ cup chopped fresh mint
- ¼ cup chopped green onions
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
- ¼ cup olive oil to shape the balls.
Instructions
- Wash the red lentils well and put them in a large pot. Pour water over them and bring them to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer uncovered until lentils are tender, about 20 minutes.
- Once most of the water is gone, remove from heat and add in bulgur and let it rest covered, for 10-15 minutes so that bulgur absorbs the rest of the water and gets tender.
- Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan, saute the chopped onion in the olive oil until golden. Add in tomato paste, salt, cumin, black pepper and paprika. Stir well.
- Transfer the sauted onion mixture into the bulgur and lentil mixture. Stir well and then transfer it into a larger bowl.
- Add in salt, parsley, mint, green onions, lemon juice and pomegranate molasses. Mix well with your hands. Taste and adjust the amount of salt to your taste.
- Line a serving platter with lettuce leaves or other herbs. Put ¼ cup olive oil in a bowl and put it aside. Wet your fingers dipping into this olive oil. This will prevent any stickiness. Place them on the lettuce leaves. Repeat until all the mixture is finished.
- Serve them with extra lettuce leaves, lemon wedges, herbs and pickles.
Notes
You can substitute water for olive oil which you use to wet your fingers when shaping the balls.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 333
- Sugar: 3.6 g
- Sodium: 598.3 mg
- Fat: 15.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 41.6 g
- Protein: 11.4 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: mercimek koftesi, lentil meatballs, Turkish bulgur balls, Turkish lentil balls, lentil balls, vegan lentil meatballs
Tyra says
What keeps these from falling apart? or do they?
Thanks
Yusuf says
They don't fall apart at all thanks to mashed lentils.
Anamarija says
These actually are not fired??
Yusuf says
No they are not fried.
Natalie says
These are delicious! They were good before even adding the onion/parsely (in fact adding the parsley/onion worked to hide a bit of the tomato flavor so I wish I used more tomato!). I think cilantro would've been good with them as well. I used green lentil since that was what was already on my stove when I found this recipe and couscous for ease since I've never had luck getting bulgur to cook by just letting it sit in hot/boiling water (maybe different brands?). I doubled the recipe and threw a fresh tomato I needed to use up in place of some of the tomato paste. I personally really like the taste of fried tomato and onion so next time I'll probably just use fresh altogether rather than the tomato paste. I ended up sprinkling on a little more cumin and black pepper at the end (because I never know when enough is enough) and realized it's this spice combo which gives more of a 'meaty' taste that I'm personally not a fan of- just a warning to others not to go over the recipe if they don't want this. With some tahini-lemon-garlic sauce as well, they're great!
★★★★★
Zerrin says
Hi Natalie! So glad that you loved these! Never used cilantro in this recipe but sounds like a good idea. Mom sometimes uses green lentil too, but they are not as smooth as red lentils when mashed. Cumin and black pepper are two of my favorite spices and love to add a lot of these in this recipe. The tahini sauce sounds great! Will try it next time! Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us!
Adina says
I've made these köfte several times myself and loved them always, thank you for the reminder, I will have to make them very soon again. Beautiful pictures and I like the tip of eating them in salad leaves with pomegranate molasses, I have never had them that way.
Lydia says
My 3 1/2 year old and I made these today. We have made this several times and my daughter loves them. She really enjoyed mixing and squeezing and kneading with her hands! It is as fun as playdough....who says you can't play with your food!
Following your recipe, I found them to be a little pale and bland to my taste (I usually play around with seasonings since I like things a little spicy), so I use a tablespoon EACH of hot pepper paste AND tomato paste and I added the juice of a whole lemon directly to the mixture when I added the parsley and green onion. I sometimes don't want to "bother" with the lettuce and lemon, so these spiced up ones are better "plain". I use 1/3 cup olive oil. I wasn't sure how much a "tea cup" was and I think the 1/3 of an 8 ounce cup worked fine. I do always have to work extra water into the mixture as I am kneading it---it is SO DRY! In fact, I used 4 cups of water to cook the lentils, but I STILL had to add more when I was kneading. I suspect that it will absorb as much water as you put in it if it sits long enough! I use disposable gloves to keep from staining my hands when I am doing the mixing. This is a super good food to mix up and keep ready for a quick lunch, and it is also easy to take on a picnic or just put in a insulated lunchbox when you are out running around....no expensive and unhealthy fast food for me when I am on the go!
It definitely goes well with the onion salad! I used red onions the first time I made the salad, but when I made it the second time with yellow onions and the sumac my daughter's aunt brought from Tarsus (much brighter than what I find in the store), after mixing it up, it was a pretty purplish color just from the sumac! Purple onions are more expensive here, but I guess they have extra phyto-nutrients, but I like being able to use the cheaper onions. I saw a friend roll up some onion salad along with the lentil ball, and that was a neat trick! Tasty!
Thank you so much, Zerrin, for your great recipes and fantastic pictures and stories.
Jessie says
yummy lentil balls! I love how they have a lot of great spices in it to give them a nice flavorful kick
Leesie says
These look so healthy and delicious! I would love to give them a try one day. I've never had bulgur. I've learned how to "soak" grains overnight. For example, I soak my oatmeal with 2-3 tablespoons of Kefir and a small amount of nuts in enough filtered water to cover. It not only cooks up faster in the morning, the whole soaking process makes (any) grains easier to digest. I will have to ask around if the same goes for bulgur as I wonder if soaking bulgur could also help avoid stomach problems. Just a thought.
Thanks again, Zerrin! I hope you enjoyed the Ramadan holiday. I enjoyed learning so much about it, and the Turkish culture. I truly appreciate the Turkish tradition and culture and mostly because neighbors still gather together to cook and eat.
Cajun Chef Ryan says
Love bulgur and lentils, and these look great too!
Vandya says
Yummm...this looks way too tempting.