Mercimek Köftesi

Mercimek köftesi is red lentils and fine bulgur worked with sautéed onion and tomato paste into small, hand-shaped patties, eaten raw in a lettuce leaf. It's a Turkish mezze that needs no stove at the end of the process — everything that gets cooked is cooked well before the shaping starts.

What it actually is

Red lentils are simmered until fully soft, then combined hot with fine bulgur, which softens entirely in the residual heat and moisture without any further cooking. Onion is sautéed until deeply golden and worked through the mixture along with tomato paste, cumin and a good amount of parsley and spring onion, and the whole thing is kneaded by hand until it holds together, then shaped into small torpedo-like patties directly in the palm.

Nothing touches heat again after the lentils and onions are done; the shaping and finishing is entirely a hand-and-bowl process, which is what makes it such a fast mezze to produce in volume.

How it's served

• In a lettuce leaf, rolled up and eaten by hand rather than with cutlery.
• With a squeeze of lemon just before eating, added at the table.
• As part of a meze spread, cold or at room temperature.

Writing it on a menu

• Flag the gluten in the bulgur; it's the one common allergen in an otherwise naturally vegan dish.
• Mention that it's naturally vegan, a strong option to place among heavier meze on the same menu.
• Say that it's served raw, with no frying or baking step at any point; a guest expecting a fried köfte should know this is a different kind of dish.
• Note how it's meant to be eaten — wrapped in lettuce, by hand — since that's part of the dish's actual format, not just a garnish choice.