Turkish Red Lentil Soup/Mercimek Çorbasi

Serves 4

Growing up in a family where soup is such an important and well-loved dish can be pretty hard if you are a ten year old and not that fond of soup. My dear son Duncan often comes running into the kitchen asking me ‘What’s for dinner?’ Before I can answer him he in general says ‘Again???’ So when he told me this soup was a winner and should definitely be in the top five, I was over the moon 🙂

This version of Turkish lentil soup is home cooking at its best: healthy, hearty, easy and scrumptious delicious.  I prefer to use (organic) red split lentils as they cook quicker than regular lentils. This soup is perfect to serve as a main meal by adding a piece of Turkish pide bread and a salad.

Ingredients

2 tbsp.  of olive oil

200g/1cup of red split lentils, washed and drained

1 red onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 large carrot, diced

1L of vegetable stock

1 tsp. of ground cumin

1 tsp. of ground paprika

Salt & black pepper

1 lemon, cut into wedges

2 tbsp. of tomato purée

Fresh mint for garnish

Preparation

Heat the olive oil on medium heat in your stockpot. Sauté the onion and when they are about done add the garlic, diced carrot, one teaspoon of ground cumin, one teaspoon of ground paprika and 2 tablespoons of tomato purée. Toss the ingredients until all ingredients are covered with the flavour of each item and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add the washed and drained lentils, pour in your stock and bring to boil. Once boiling reduce the heat and simmer for 25 minutes or until the carrots and lentils are tender.

Turn off the heat and let the soup cool down for a few minutes. Place all but 3 cups of the soup into a blender or food processor and blend.  Return the pureed soup to your pan and stir in the reserved cups of soup.  Season to taste with salt and coarsely ground pepper.

Serve each bowl with a lemon wedge and garnish with fresh mint.

Bon Appetite 😉