Lentil soup

Ingredients

Soup

• 300 gred lentils, rinsed
• 1onion, chopped
• 1carrot, chopped
• 1potato, chopped
• 2 clovesgarlic
• 1 tbsptomato paste
• 1 tspbiber salçası, red pepper paste
• 2 tbspbutter or oil
• 1.5 litreswater or stock
• salt

Seasoning

• 1 tspground cumin
• ½ tspdried mint
• black pepper

Chilli butter

• 60 gbutter
• 1 tbsppul biber, Aleppo pepper
• 1 tspdried mint

To serve

• lemon wedges, cut generously
• bread

Directions

1. Rinse them in several changes of water until it runs clear. Cook the onion in butter over a medium heat for eight to ten minutes until soft and sweet. Take the time over the onion, since a soup this simple is built entirely on what goes in at the start. Add the garlic, then the tomato paste and red pepper paste.
2. Fry the pastes for three or four minutes until they darken and the oil takes their colour. Add the water and bring it to a boil. Skim off the foam that rises in the first few minutes. Now reduce it to a simmer and cook for twenty-five to thirty minutes.
3. Stir it from time to time and scrape the base, since lentils settle and catch readily. It is ready when the lentils have completely disintegrated and the vegetables are falling apart.
4. Cook it until everything has genuinely collapsed, since anything still holding its shape will leave lumps in the blended soup. Use a stick blender in the pot, or work in batches in a jug blender. Blend it far longer than seems necessary, since mercimek çorbası is judged on its complete smoothness. Now the consistency, which needs adjusting.
5. Add hot water to loosen it, and simmer it a little longer to thicken. Season it firmly with salt and add the cumin and pepper. Season it generously, since a smooth pulse soup tastes flat and pasty when underseasoned. Melt the butter in a small pan over a low heat.
6. Add the pul biber and swirl it for ten to twenty seconds only, then take it off the heat immediately. Paprika and pul biber burn within seconds in hot butter, and burnt pepper is acrid and turns the butter brown and bitter.
7. Add the dried mint off the heat, which blooms in the residual warmth. Ladle the soup into bowls and drizzle the red chilli butter over each in a spiral. Serve a generous wedge of lemon with every bowl. The lemon squeezed in at the table is essential, since the acid lifts what is otherwise a soft, earthy, slightly heavy soup.
8. Serve bread alongside, and it needs nothing else. It keeps three days refrigerated and freezes well, and it thickens each time so loosen it when reheating.

Technique

• It is the most common soup in Turkey and opens most meals.
• The chilli butter is added off the heat, since pul biber burns instantly.
• The lemon squeezed in at the table is essential rather than optional.

Substitutions

• Tomato paste alone if you cannot find biber salçası.
• Olive oil in place of butter, which is common in summer.

Variations

• Ezogelin çorbası, with bulgur, rice and mint.
• Made with more cumin, which varies by region.
• Made with stock rather than water, for a richer soup.

History

A smooth, blended soup made from red lentils cooked with onion, carrot and warming spices including cumin and paprika, documented across Turkey as one of the country’s most essential and widely eaten everyday dishes, commonly served with a wedge of lemon and often bread on the side. Its simple, affordable ingredient list, relying primarily on red lentils, a crop long cultivated across Turkey and the wider Middle East, reflects a broader regional tradition of building nourishing, satisfying meals from inexpensive legumes. Lentil soup, called mercimek çorbası in Turkish, remains one of the most commonly ordered starters at Turkish restaurants and one of the most frequently prepared soups in Turkish home kitchens.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lentil soup?

Lentil soup is a soup & stew from Turkey: smooth red-lentil soup with lemon and chili butter; everyday starter. A smooth, blended soup made from red lentils cooked with onion, carrot and warming spices including cumin and paprika, documented across Turkey as one of the country’s most essential and widely eaten everyday dishes, commonly served with a wedge of lemon and often bread on the side. Its simple, affordable ingredient list, relying primarily on red lentils, a crop long cultivated across Turkey and the wider Middle East, reflects a broader regional tradition of building nourishing, satisfying meals from inexpensive legumes. Lentil soup, called mercimek çorbası in Turkish, remains one of the most commonly ordered starters at Turkish restaurants and one of the most frequently prepared soups in Turkish home kitchens.

How long does Lentil soup take to make?

Lentil soup takes 15 min of preparation and 40 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Lentil soup?

Yes, within limits. Tomato paste alone if you cannot find biber salçası. Olive oil in place of butter, which is common in summer.

What is the most important thing to get right in Lentil soup?

Add the dried mint off the heat, which blooms in the residual warmth. Ladle the soup into bowls and drizzle the red chilli butter over each in a spiral. Serve a generous wedge of lemon with every bowl. The lemon squeezed in at the table is essential, since the acid lifts what is otherwise a soft, earthy, slightly heavy soup.