Spaghetti with Vegan “Meatballs”

Lentils, spice and a little kitchen magic. This is a dish where the sauce is the protagonist, not the pasta. We all have dishes that mark our childhood. For many in Sicily, that dish is polpette al sugo: soft meatballs simmered in tomato sauce, eaten with pasta or mopped up with bread. This has been my vegan version for years, and though it may not have the meat, it has everything else: richness, texture and the kind of flavour that makes you want seconds.

The polpette are ma