A bowl of fried lentil and potato balls with a dish of white dip on a blue surface
Photography, Emanuela Cino

Vegetarian Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Balls

A curry-yogourt dipping sauce accompanies these satisfying veggie bites.

These hearty lentil bites take the “meat” out of “meatballs” – but you won’t even notice it’s gone.

A bowl of fried lentil and potato balls with a dish of white dip on a blue surface

Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Balls

These hearty vegetarian lentil-and-sweet-potato bites are served with a curry yogourt dipping sauce.
Course Hors d'oeuvres, Main Course, Snack
Servings 4

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

  • 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.
Share this article:

Sign up for our Good Life newsletter and get a FREE Easy Week Night Dinners Recipe Booklet

Name(Required)
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.