Valentine’s Day is my absolute favorite holiday.
It’s a day of love. Love for your best friends, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your dog, your mail carrier, that dude who held the door for you at Duane Reade, the blueberry muffin that makes the morning better, and everything and everyone in between It’s a day to be kind, and I like to celebrate with lots fun and homemade gifts.
I wish people would stop stressing, and stop buying into the myth that you have to spend loads of money on someone to prove you love them. I’d much rather have something from the heart than from the wallet.
I swoon over a mixtape and gag over diamonds. I’m a simple girl, my favorite V Day involved busking for hot chocolate money, and keeling over in hysterics during an amazing rendition of Hall & Oates’ “Rich Girl”. No elaborate flower arrangement required.
In an effort to ground Valentine’s Day and rediscover what it’s supposed to be about, I implore you, ditch the mall and hit the kitchen. What better way to show someone you care about them than with a delicious meal cooked with love?
Here’s a fiery Moroccan classic, minus the meat, that will warm your loved one’s stomach and heart with its piquant spices and on-theme color.
Ingredients
Serves four
Meatballs
1 cup orange lentils, rinsed very well
1 cup water
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ onion, diced
2 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons dried parsley
½ teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon paprika
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ cup breadcrumbs
extra olive oil
Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ onion, diced
4 cloves minced garlic
½ teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon cumin
28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
Directions
First, tackle the meatballs. Set water and lentils on to boil. Simmer for ten minutes, or until soft.
Heat one tablespoon olive oil in a pan. Sauté half a chopped onion until soft. Add minced garlic, all meatball spices and sauté until fragrant. Take off heat.
In a blender or food processor, blitz the drained chickpeas until you have millimeter sized chunks.
In a large bowl mix together the cooked lentils, onion and spices mixture, blitzed chickpeas, breadcrumbs, salt and black pepper.
Now things get a little tricky. You’ll be frying up the meatballs and making the sauce at the same time.
Coat the bottom of a large pan with olive oil and heat until hot. Place rounded tablespoons - about the size of ping-pong balls - of the meatball mixture into the pan and fry for three to four minutes. These meatballs are entirely cooked, so you don’t need to fuss over cooking times. You just want two sides of your meatballs to be crusty and beautifully golden brown. Continue frying until you use up all the mixture. You should get about 24 meatballs in total.
While the meatballs are frying away, heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a deep pot. Sauté the other half an onion until soft. Add garlic and spices and sauté until fragrant. Pour in the crushed tomatoes, add salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Simmer until you finish frying the meatballs.
Pour a large dollop of sauce into a shallow dish, top with six meatballs and garnish with a few sprigs of fresh parsley. No need for cous cous with these carbtastic spheres! And lay out some mints too, you know, for the kisses of gratitude…