Lentil, ras-el hanout & date ‘meatballs’ with olive salsa

Try these protein-packed lentil and oat balls blitzed with ras el hanout for a quick and easy weeknight meal. Serve over couscous with our olive salsa

Ingredients

• 1 lemon , zested and juiced
• 50 g green olives , pitted and roughly chopped
• 1 large on-the-vine tomato , roughly chopped
• 25 g parsley , finely chopped
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves , crushed
• 90 g porridge oats
• 3 medjool dates , destoned and roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp ras el hanout
• 2 x 400g cans cooked green lentils , rinsed and drained
• 50 g feta , crumbled
• jewelled couscous , to serve

Steps

1. Combine 1 tbsp of the lemon juice, olives, tomato, half the parsley and 1 tbsp of the oil in a small bowl. Season to taste and set aside.
2. For the meatballs, tip the garlic, oats, dates, ras el hanout, lemon zest and remaining parsley into a food processor and blitz until well combined. Tip in the lentils and pulse a few times until fully combined – the lentils don’t have to be completely broken up. Season the mixture with a big pinch of salt and pepper and stir in the feta. Wet your hands and form the mixture into 25 small balls, around the size of ping pong balls. Set aside on a plate.
3. Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the balls to the pan and brown all over, around 10-12 mins, turning them with a spoon rather than shuffling the pan as they will be fragile. Serve over the couscous with the olive salsa spooned on top.