Baked lentil and mushroom bulgur kofte

I have a confession to make. As a vegetarian, I kind of feel like it’s my duty, or should be somehow ingrained in my non-meat-eating make-up to be a great lover of all of the vegetarian staples, but here’s the thing, I’m just not.

I’m not a massive fan of aubergine and (whisper it) I don’t like beet root. I’ve tried really hard to like those things, heaven knows, but it’s just not happening. Aubergine, admittedly, does have it’s moments. I have experienced some truly lovely veg moussaka, and baba ganoush, well…glory on a flatbread. Beet root on the other hand is the bane of my culinary existence. It’s really, really good for you, so I’ve tried many times, health benefits in mind, to hide it in sandwiches with smelly cheese,grate it into colorful salads, eat it pickled, or stifle it under layers of chocolate in the now ubiquitous beet root brownie. But I’m afraid that for me a beet root is still a beet root no matter its guise, and that is just simply never a desirable thing.

I also am not keen on the tendencies for vegetarian recipes to tend toward the plappy end of the texture scale, all of those wet, squashy recipes that you need to eat out of a bowl. I am not averse to a bit of plap at all. Stews and soups, tagine, curry, and chili; all glorious things. But sometimes I want something with a bit of heft. I love burgers and bean-loaf with roast veg, or quiche or pizza, but I’m always on the lookout for something new that I haven’t thought of before.

And so, the other day when I stumbled upon a recipe for Turkish kofte, I couldn’t wait to try it out.

Kofte or kofta, seems to be present in loads of variations in the cuisine of the Middle East, India, North Africa, and the Balkans. Mainly it seems to describe a meatball or meatloaf dish. It seems that in Turkey though they make a variation called bulgur kofte which, from what I gather, is sometimes made by mixing bulgur into the meat to make the meat ball, or conversely, a bulgur crust is stuffed with meat, and usually fried giving a crispy outside. The latter variant seems very closely related to a dish called Kibbeh, which also includes pine nuts, and is evidently the national dish of several countries of the Middle East.

I like bulgur wheat a lot, but had never really considered any other uses for it apart from in tabbouleh, which is one of my favorite salads, but using it to make a crust that you could stuff with a filling sounded like a wonderful and really different idea. I decided to make mine with green lentils and dried mushrooms in place of the meat as both have quite a hearty texture. I really love the richness that dried mushrooms add to a recipe too, it gave this filling a nice depth.

I also found a few recipes that suggested baking rather than frying them. I opted for that option as the healthier version.

The first batch that I attempted were a bit of a failure, the bulgur was too coarse so the crust was really crumbly and just broke up when I tried to cut into it. So with the second attempt I included some semolina into the bulgur mix as I’d found a recipe that recommended this as a binding agent. Once the bulgur was cooked I used my stick blender to mush the whole lot up, which gave a much better result. If you were using a fine bulgur wheat to begin with, then this step may not be necessary.

Shaping the kofte is a bit finicky, so I would suggest starting early if you have time restraints.

Baked mushroom and lentil bulgur kofte

2015-08-08 15:24:13

Write a review

Save Recipe

Print

Ingredients

1. 250 g bulgur wheat
2. 25 g coarse semolina
3. 1 tsp salt
4. 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
5. 1/4 tsp sweet paprika
6. 200-250 mL water
7. 75 g dried green lentils
8. 1 small brown onion, chopped
9. 2 cloves of garlic, crushed with a pinch of salt
10. 1 tsp oil plus a bit for brushing onto the kofta
11. 2 Tbsp coarsely chopped dried mixed mushrooms
12. 3/4 tsp chopped fresh oregano or 1/4 tsp dried
13. 1/8 tsp nutmeg
14. 2 Tbsp wheat germ (or bread crumbs)
15. 1 egg white

Instructions

1. To prepare the bulgur crust mix together the bulgur, semolina, salt, pepper and paprika in a large heatproof bowl .
2. Bring the water to the boil, take it off the heat and let it stop bubbling, and then pour 200mL of it over the bulgur mixture. Stir to make sure all of the bulgur is submerged. Cover and leave to sit until all of the water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Check to see if the grain is cooked through, soft, and a little on the wet side. Add more of the water and leave to sit as needed.
3. When the grain is cooked put it in a blender, or use a stick blender to blend the mixture until it’s the consistency of a thick, sticky paste.
4. Meanwhile, put the lentils in a small pot, cover with water, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and allow them to simmer until tender but not too sloppy, about 20-30 minutes.
5. While the lentils are cooking heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Once the oil is heated, add the onion and allow it to cook until it’s starting to soften, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic to the onions and allow to cook another 2 minutes and then remove from heat and set aside.
6. Cover the dried mushrooms with a bit of hot water and leave to soak for about 10 minutes to soften, and then drain and set aside.
7. Pre heat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius and lightly grease a baking tray.
8. Once the lentils are cooked, drain them and then mash them with a masher.
9. Stir the onion and garlic mix, mushrooms, oregano, nutmeg and wheat germ into the lentils and season to taste, then stir in the egg white.
10. To from the kofte, using damp hands, pick up a small handful of the bulgur and form it roughly into a ball. Push one finger gently into the center to hollow the ball out, and elongate it into more of an oval shape. Fill the hollow with the lentil mixture and then add a bit more of the bulgur over the filling and seal it dampening the area where it joins a little bit if you need to to smooth it out. Brush the kofte with oil and set it onto a lightly greased baking tray.
11. Repeat with the rest of the mixture, spacing them out a bit on the tray as you finish them. You should be able to get about a dozen finished kofte from the recipe depending on the size that you make them.
12. Put the tray in the oven and leave them to bake for about 30-40 minutes. The outside of the kofte should be golden brown and crispy. Serve hot with a sauce for dipping or with a big salad.

Roots & Wren https://rootsandwren.com/