Vegan İçli Köfte Recipe
When I think about vegans and vegetarianism, the question I focus on is; can I do it? I may be a vegetarian, but I think I can never be a vegan. Because the easiest part for me is not eating meat. As someone who loves vegetables and legumes, I don't have any problems with the main course, but it makes it very difficult to remove milk and eggs as they are the indispensable ingredients of many recipes.
With these thoughts, I have built such an empathic connection with vegans that I try to share vegan recipes that fill as much gaps as possible. Vegan chocolate cake recipe, vegan butter recipe, vegan egg white substitute recipe are some examples. I'm sure these efforts will also help those with milk and egg allergies. I hope that these vegan içli köftes, which is normally filled with ground meat, will help to vegans who crave for içli köfte.
Although I love meat, I have to admit that the içli köfte with green lentils are more delicious than içli köfte with meat. I don't know if you've ever had a lentil börek before, but it's also more delicious for me than a meat börek. I think I love green lentil as a filling. To cut it short, if you eat meat or not try this recipe.
If you are not confident about the shaping, you can watch içli köfte making video. It's in Turkish, but it would help in terms of shaping.
Enjoy the recipe...
Ingredients
For the outer crust;
- 1 cup fine bulgur,
- 2 potatoes,
- 1 tablespoon of flour,
- 1 cup boiling water,
- 1 teaspoon tomato paste,
- 1 teaspoon pepper paste,
- Salt,
- Vegetable oil for frying.
For the filling;
- 1/2 cup green lentils,
- 1 onion, chopped,
- 4-5 tablespoons of oil
- 2-3 tablespoons ground walnuts,
- Salt,
- Black pepper,
- Cumin.
Preparation
- Boil the potatoes until soft,
- Wash and drain the bulgur and take into a saucepan, add water and a little salt and mix,
- Cover the lid and cook until it absorbs all the water,
- Remove from heat and set aside until cools down,
- In the meantime, wash and drain the green lentils and take them in a small saucepan,
- Add boiling water to pass over two fingers and simmer until soft, drain,
- Heat the oil in a separate pan and add the onions, stir fry until soft,
- Add the green lentils, walnuts, salt and spices, mix and remove from heat,
- Take the chilled potatoes to a food processor and pulse until they become a glue like mash,
- Add the mashed potatoes, flour and tomato paste to the bulgur and knead well,
- Grease your hand thoroughly and tear off a small piece from the mixture and roll it out,
- Take into your left palm and make a hole in the middle with you right thumb,
- Fill the hole with the filling,
- Gently close the open side with your right hand and shape it properly,
- Prepare all the mixture in the same way,
- Take plenty of oil in a deep saucepan,
- Throw the meatballs in the boiling oil and cook them until they turn golden brown.
Bon Appetit...