Turkishredlentilandgrainssoup Recipes

TURKISH LENTIL SOUP

Steps:

• Heat a large thick bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the oil, onion and carrot. Sauté, stirring regularly, until softened but not coloured, 8-10 minutes.
• Add the garlic, tomato paste, red pepper paste and sugar. Fry, stirring constantly, until aromas fill your kitchen and the tomato and pepper pastes have been cooked through and mixed well with the other ingredients, 1-2 minutes. Add the lentils and give it all a good stir.
• Add the water and season to taste with salt and pepper. The amount of water is for a fairly thin Turkish-style soup. Reduce the amount to 1 ltrs for a thicker version. Bring to a boil, pop on a lid and turn the heat down to low. Leave to simmer until the lentils are cooked through and starting to fall apart, around 15 minutes.
• Whizz with a stick blender (or regular blender, making sure not to overfill it). Leave off the heat for a few minutes.
• Meanwhile, melt the butter (or extra virgin olive oil) in a small pan or pot until melted and bubbling (or hot, in the case of the oil). Take off the heat and stir in the Aleppo pepper.
• Serve the soup warm with a spoonful of chili butter as well as a sprinkling of freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley, if you like. And don't forget a squeeze of lemon juice.

TURKISH RED LENTIL 'BRIDE' SOUP

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Cook the onions in the hot butter until they are golden brown, about 15 minutes.
• Stir the paprika, lentils, and bulgur into the onions and coat with the butter.
• Add the tomato paste, vegetable stock, and cayenne pepper; bring to a boil and cook until soft and creamy, about 1 hour.
• Crumble the dried mint leaves into the soup; stir the soup and remove from heat.
• Ladle into bowls and garnish with lemon slices and fresh mint to serve.

TURKISH RED LENTIL SOUP WITH MINT

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large pot over high heat. Cook and stir the onion in the hot oil until it begins to soften, about 2 minutes. Stir the garlic into the onion and cook another 2 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes to the onion mixture; continue to cook and stir another 10 minutes.
• Pour in the chicken stock, red lentils, bulgur, rice, tomato paste, paprika, cayenne pepper, and mint to the tomato mixture; season with salt and black pepper. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook at a simmer until the the lentils and rice are cooked through, about 30 minutes.
• Pour the soup into a blender to no more than half full. Firmly hold the lid in place and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree in batches until smooth; pour into your serving dish. Alternately, you can use a stick blender and puree the soup in cooking pot.

TURKISH RED LENTIL SOUP

Steps:

• Place the red lentils in a colandar and rinse.
• Sift through to remove and debris or damaged beans.
• Place the washed and cleaned lentils into a medium pot with the stock, potatoes, onions and paprika.
• Bring the pot to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
• Loosely place a lid on the pot leaving slightly ajar as to allow some evaporation.
• Cook for 40-40 minutes until the lentils are tender.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Place all but 1 cup of the soup into a blender or food processor and blend briefly.
• Return blended soup to the pot with the reserved cup of soup.
• Heat through.
• Serve.

TURKISH RED LENTIL AND GRAINS SOUP

Steps:

• Saute the onion in the olive oil until translucent. Add the garlic and saute one minute more.
• Add the rest of the ingredients except for the butter and one teaspoon dried mint.
• Bring to boil and lower to simmer. Allow to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Use an immersion blender to puree the soup slightly or put a cup or two into a blender.
• To serve, melt the butter and add the mint. Drizzle on top of soup.

TURKISH RED LENTIL SOUP

Steps:

• Combine everything into a pot, and bring to a boil.
• Lower the heat, loosely cover the pot, and let simmer for 25-30 minutes or until the lentils have completely softened.
• Let the soup cool for about 5-10 minutes (you can also cheat and just pop the pot in the fridge or freezer for a couple minutes while catching up on work and texting, like I did!).
• Pour the soup in a blender to puree it nicely.
• After pureeing, I sometimes like to pop in a can of big white beans like great northern beans, navy beans, cannellini, or butterbeans with a little fresh cilantro if I happen to have any on hand. These are found in piyaz, another delicious meze.
• Garnish with lemon and/or fresh mint, and serve with some delicious pitas, toasty Turkish bread, or sigara bourek!

TURKISH RED LENTIL SOUP

Steps:

• Place the lentils and rice in a sieve, rinse well and allow to drain.
• Meanwhile, heat the oil in a heavy four-quart saucepan. Add the onion, and saute until soft but not brown. Stir in the tomato paste, tomato, paprika and cayenne pepper. Add the lentils, rice and stock. Stir well, and simmer, covered, 30 minutes, until the rice is cooked and the lentils have virtually dissolved into a puree. Stir from time to time.
• Add salt to taste. If the soup is too thick, add a little water.
• Serve each portion sprinkled with mint leaves and croutons, with lemon wedges and yogurt on the side.