These hearty lentil bites take the “meat” out of “meatballs” – but you won’t even notice it’s gone. With its creamy curry dipping sauce and rich flavours, these veggie protein balls are the perfect hot vegetarian appetizer for your your next party.
How to cook red lentils:
The trick here is that the red lentils and sweet potato get cooked together in a pot of salted boiling water for 15 minutes. By cooking them together, it cuts down on pots to wash up.
Sweet Potato and Lentil Vegetarian Protein Balls
Serve these hearty vegetarian Sweet Potato bites with a creamy curry yogourt dipping sauce. The addition of red lentils adds protein, upgrading these finger bites into healthy vegetarian protein balls.
Ingredients
Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Balls
- 1 sweet potato peeled
- ¾ cup red lentils
- ½ red onion
- 2 slices sandwich bread crusts removed
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 5 sprigs flat-leaf parsley chopped
- pinch salt
- pinch freshly ground black pepper
- sliced red onion for serving
Yogourt Sauce
- 1¾ cups Greek yogourt
- 1 lime zested and juiced
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 1 tsp olive oil
- pinch salt
- pinch freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Lentil & Sweet Potato Balls
- Cut sweet potato into 1-inch chunks and place in large pot of salted water. Bring to a boil; add lentils and cook until potato and lentils are tender, about 15 minutes. Drain; transfer to large bowl and mash until smooth. Let cool.
- Finely chop onion with bread and garlic. Add to sweet potato mixture with cumin and parsley. Stir together and season with salt and pepper.
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Using hands, divide sweet potato mixture into 20 equal portions and roll into balls. Chill for 30 minutes. Arrange on oiled baking sheet and bake, turning until golden, about 25 minutes.
Yogourt Sauce
- Mix together yogourt, lime zest, half of the lime juice, curry powder, olive oil, salt and pepper for seasoning. Serve sweet potato lentil balls with thinly sliced red onion and yogourt sauce.
