Turkish Red Lentil Soup

Submitted by justcallmetoni

"Another delectable entry for the Zaar World Tour from the enticing World Vegetarian Cookbook by Madhur Jaffrey. This is simple enough to prepare midweek and comforting as the first cold air of fall arrives."

 

• Ready In: 50mins
• Ingredients: 7
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 cup red lentil, washed and cleaned
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 1⁄4 cup mild onion, finely chopped
• 1⁄2 cup white potato, peeled and diced
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
• pepper (to taste)

directions

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

Reviews

[pinklepurr]

I live in Turkey and this soup is often served for breakfast! Turks usually serve it with a lemon wedge or two, which you squeeze into the soup just before eating, and a dash of red pepper flakes, (or a lot - depending on your taste). The lemon adds one more layer of flavour and gives it real "zing"! For those who feel something's missing-try it! I made this last night and followed the recipe exactly, except for a little more paprika, and I added a red pepper. Yummy!

 

[Crabzilla]

Oh Toni, slurp, slurp! The absolute simplicity of this lovely, aromatic soup is simply awesome! Here is what I did... I did the prep work (oh so minimal!) last night, and my DH and I had the soup, exactly as you posted, this afternoon, for lunch with some lightly toasted pita bread, Kalamata olives, and pepperocini (on the side). Simply fabulous! There were only two of us for lunch, so for my family dinner this evening, I decided to tweak the soup to make it a more substantial meal, standing on its own. OMG, heaven! I added about 1/2 pound of cubed butternut squash, more garlic, cumin, black pepper, two red bell peppers, a lot of HOT Hungarian paprika (to suit our warped spicy taste buds), some diced shallots, about 1/2 cup cilantro, and one entire medium red onion. I re-pureed all but about 3 cups, and then lightly re-heated. I then garnished it with a dollop of sour cream, a sprinkle of fresh cilantro, and served it with a simple light salad and crusty bread and butter. To die for! Heaven! Nobody in this family likes lentils, red bell pepper, or butternut squash, lol, period. They never knew what hit them! They ate this stuff up like there was no more tomorrow, not even knowing they were eating lentils, etc. This is such a keeper, such a fantastic Autumn soup. I think that I will serve this fantastic soup as one of my starters for our big Thanksgiving feast! Thank you so much for such a lovely, simple, scrumptious soup, as is...or dressed up!

 

[punkroqsk8rchic]

My family really enjoyed this soup. I doubled the recipe. Just a few tips... 1. I Sauteed the onions with butter prior to adding it to the stock. 2. I added 2 T of Cumin and chopped carrots as others suggested. <br/>I plan on tripling the recipe next time

 

[TXOLDHAM]

We had this for lunch today as the weather has gotten very cold and this hit the spot. I did add 2 diced carrots and, as suggested by other reviews, cumin and garlic powder. Just to pep it up a little I added a small amount of cayenne pepper. I didn't have any vegetable stock so used chicken broth as suggested by another reviewer. My DH loved it even though he usually turns his nose up at Lentils. Thanks for posting.

 

[zeytin]

Followed the recipe exactly and it turned out great....just like my turkish mother in law's. If you reheat it later it is often a bit too thick so I find that I need to add more water when I reheat it. Thanks for this wonderful, easy recipe!