Red Lentil Kofta Wrap with Date and Tamarind Sauce

Inspired by the Turkish dish of red lentil kofta (Mercimek Köftesi) from Ceara's Kitchen  I decided to give it an Omani twist and smother it in the date and tamarind sauce. Served with a simple flat bread it would make a great addition to my middle eastern repertoire.

Mercimek Köftesi

Ingredients

• 1 cup red lentils
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup fine bulgur or quinoa if you want to make it gluten free
• 1/2 onion, diced finely
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped and mashed with a little salt
• 1 cup parsley, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp sea salt or to taste

Instructions

1. Prepare and dice the onion, garlic and parsley.
2. Rinse the red lentils. Cook the red lentils in a large pot with 5 cups of water, ground cumin, hot pepper flakes, paprika, and tomato paste over medium-high heat. Cover and leave to cook for 10 minutes.
3. Add the bulgar or quinoa and cook until the bulgar or quinoa is cooked.
4. Stir in the onion, garlic and parsley into the red lentil mixture. Add sea salt to taste. Leave to cool in the fridge for 5 – 10 minutes.
5. Scoop the red lentil mixture with an ice cream scoop or spoon and quenelle the mixture.  You can just form into little patties in the palm of your hand.
6. You can enjoy them straight away warm or later cold with salad.

Red Lentil Kofta Wrap with Date and Tamarind Sauce

Ingredients

• Red lentil kofta from above
• Flatbread
• Date and tamarind sauce (I have a great recipe which I used for my Baharat Roasted Cauliflower dish - find here)
• 1/4 cucumber cubed
• 5-6 radishes sliced

Instructions

1. Warm the kofta and flatbread if cool.
2. Nestle a kofta or two in the flatbread and smother the date and tamarind sauce over the top.
3. Sprinkle in some of the cucumber and radishes and gentle wrap the flatbread around the kofta.