Lentil and Mushroom Koftes

1

Gather and prepare your ingredients. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

2

Place the dried mushrooms into a bowl. Pour over the hot water and set aside to soak.

3

Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery with a light sprinkle of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, for 4-5 minutes, until softened.

4

Add the garlic, paprika, tomato puree, tamari and thyme. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until darkened and fragrant.

5

Add the fresh mushrooms and cook, stirring often, for 7-8 minutes, until most of their liquid has evaporated.

6

Blend the by-now-well-soaked dried mushrooms until you have a coarse liquid. Add this to the pan and cook off for about a minute.

7

Turn off the heat. Stir through the lentils and roughly mash using either a potato masher or fork, until about ⅓ of the lentils remain whole and the rest are broken up.

8

Stir through the nuts, nutritional yeast and flax. Adjust seasoning to taste. Because it’s vegan, you can safely taste it at this stage.

9

Take balls of mixture about the size of an easy-peeler, then shape into bullets. Place onto your prepared tray. Dampen your hands in between shaping each one to prevent sticking.

10

Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until slightly darkened.

11

To make the tahini garlic yoghurt, stir together all ingredients. Add salt to taste. Tahini varies in thickness, so you may need to add a splash of water to loosen.

12

Warm your flatbreads either in the oven or toaster. Spread with tahini garlic yoghurt, top with the koftes and your vegetables of choice.