Cooking an amazing vegetarian meal is easy when you pack it with bright seasonal produce. How about roast carrots and lentil koftas?

SERVES 4–6 // COOKING TIME 1 hour 5 min

INGREDIENTS
For the roast carrots
400 g baby rainbow carrots
2 tbsp olive oil
Coarse salt and black pepper
For the lentil koftas
1 tbsp olive oil, plus to fry
1 onion, diced
2 cups red lentils
1½ tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp chilli flakes
1 cup finely chopped parsley
1 cup chickpea flour, plus extra to dust
3 garlic cloves, crushed
For the dressing
⅓  cup balsamic vinegar
¼ cup olive oil
Handful parsley

METHOD
For the roast carrots
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Halve the carrots lengthways. Toss with oil, salt and pepper to coat.
3. Arrange the carrots on a baking tray. Cook for 25 minutes, until tender inside and crispy outside.
For the lentil koftas
1. Heat 1 tbsp oil and fry the onion until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Rinse the lentils. Place in a pot with 1 L water, tomato paste, cumin, paprika and chilli. Cover and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes, until just a trace of liquid remains at the bottom of the pot.
3. Mix in remaining ingredients. Place in the fridge to cool for 10 minutes.
4. Scoop heaped tablespoons of lentil mixture. Use a second spoon to shape into ovals. Dust each in chickpea flour.
5. Heat some oil to medium-high heat in a pan. Fry the koftas for 2 minutes on each side, until crispy.
For the dressing
1. Combine vinegar, oil, parsley and salt and pepper in a blender.
2. To serve, drizzle koftas and carrots with dressing.

Recipe & styling: Amerae Vercueil
Photography: Andreas Eiselen // HMimages.co.za

This roast vegetable galette is another meat-free fave made from fresh ingredients.