Turkish Red Lentil Soup (Mercimek Çorbası)

Recipe No.: W-88

InternationalTurkish45 minServes 5

In Turkey, lentil soup is served in many restaurants as the first course, and in homes on the iftar table in Ramadan. It is a silky golden soup of red lentils, onion and carrot, blended until smooth, topped with hot butter browned with red pepper flakes and a squeeze of lemon. Its simplicity is said to be the secret of its charm: with a few ingredients it warms any cold day.

Origin of the dish: Turkey — One of Turkey's best-known soups, served in restaurants and homes and on Ramadan iftar tables

Photo: Red lentil soup from Turkey.jpg by E4024, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Ingredients for Turkish Red Lentil Soup

• 1 cup(200 g) split red lentils, rinsed
• 1medium onion, chopped
• 1medium carrot, chopped
• 1small potato, chopped (optional)
• 2 tbspbutter or olive oil
• 1 tbsptomato paste
• 5 cups(1.2 litres) water or halal chicken stock
• ½ tspcumin
• 1 tspsalt and black pepper
• To garnish2 tbsp butter + 1 tsp red pepper flakes (pul biber) or paprika, and dried mint
• lemon wedges to serve

Method

1. Heat the butter in a pot and stir the onion for 5 minutes until soft.
2. Add the carrot, potato and tomato paste and stir for 2 minutes.
3. Add the lentils, water, cumin, salt and pepper, bring to a boil, then lower the heat.
4. Cook for 25 minutes until the lentils and vegetables are completely soft.
5. Blend the soup with a stick blender until smooth, adding hot water if it is too thick.
6. In a small pan, heat the butter with the red pepper flakes and mint until it foams and turns reddish, pour it over the soup and squeeze lemon on top.

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