I just love kofta, that marvelous Middle Eastern meatball that can be flavored and cooked in so many different ways (and is variously spelled köfte, kufte, كفته, among others). I definitely prefer the flavor of lamb over any other filling, but given that I often cook vegetarian at home, I’m intrigued by meatless interpretations of it. Two recipes in particular have been swimming around in my to-make queue for ages now, and this past month I finally managed to try both of them.
The first recipe is from Moroccan cookbook author Kitty Morse’s volume North Africa: The Vegetarian Table. The main ingredient in these is finely chopped breadcrumbs, which are flavored similarly to an Arab meat kofta, with parsley, cilantro, and cumin seed. They’re first fried in oil, then baked in an aromatic cinnamon and parsley-scented tomato sauce. My expectations were high for these to be fantastic. But, alas, we all know what happens when expectations run too high! While I didn’t exactly dislike them, I don’t think I’ll make them again, at least not without some major changes. The flavors were on the right mark, but the end impression was of an oily ball of slightly bouncy, spongelike bread in sauce. Nicely flavored bread, mind you, but not worth all the work of chopping herbs and the various steps involved. I’m not including the recipe here for that reason. They were also very difficult to fashion as the dough was very wet (too many eggs, I’d wager). Here’s what they looked like:
The second recipe was as different from the Moroccan version as can be. These Turkish koftas, found on Yogurt Land, were a bit simpler to make and formed from a mixture of soft red lentils and bulgur wheat. They’re not fried and are meant to be served at room temperature, accompanied by a tangy, sumac-laced onion salad. I enjoyed these and will make them again, both for the healthy properties of the lentils and cracked wheat and also because I’d like to experiment with adding different herbs, such as dill or cilantro. In Turkey I think they’re served as finger food, but I made a tasty lunchtime sandwich with a few koftas, a squeeze of lemon, and some onion salad stuffed into a warm piece of lavash bread.
Although I’m not quite prepared to give up my lamb koftas, making these was a neat learning experience and has opened my mind to some new possibilities in vegetarian cooking. Perhaps I can try modifying Kitty Morse’s recipe by substituting bulgur or some other more texturally interesting ingredient (tempeh?) for the breadcrumbs. I also know there are also some fantastic Indian vegetarian koftas that I need to try making, too. Meanwhile, these Red Lentil Koftas are a tasty and adaptable keeper (they seemed to get even better the next day, too). I think they’d be equally good as a finger food appetizer, stuffed into bread as a sandwich, or as a light dinner in warm weather. Don’t skip the onion salad, by the way…the mild flavor of the koftas really benefits from this pungent accompaniment.
