Turkish Red Lentil Soup Kirmizi Mercimek Çorbasi Food

TURKISH RED LENTIL SOUP RECIPE (MERCIMEK CORBASI)

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a pot over medium heat.
• Saute onion until golden. Add tomato paste and cook for a minute.
• Add in carrots and cook for a couple of minutes.
• To the onion and carrot, add the red lentils, salt, pepper, cumin, Aleppo pepper and black pepper. Stir well and cook for a minute.
• Pour in the water and bring the soup to simmer. Cook covered on medium heat for 20 minutes. Uncover and cook for another 10 minutes until the lentils are completely cooked.
• Blend the soup in the blender or using an immersion blender until it's creamy and smooth.
• Serve warm with a squeeze of lemon.

RED LENTIL SOUP

Steps:

• Heat 2 tbsp. butter on your medium pot, add your one chopped onion and saute until tender.
• Add 1/2 tbsp. tomato paste to the onions and saute a little more
• Add 1 cup of red lentil, 1 chopped potato, 1 chopped carrot to your pot. Pour 4 cups of water on, cover a lid on your pot and cook your soup until the vegetables soften 30-40 minutes.
• When the soup is cooked, turn off your heat and stir your soup with your hand blender until it gets very smooth.
• Add your 1 tsp. black pepper, 1 tsp. ground red pepper, 1/2 tsp. ground cumin, salt and stir until combined. At this point you can add some more water (about 1/2 - 1 cup) of water if you want the consistency of your soup thinner.
• Make your butter sauce in another sauce pan and pour onto your red lentil soup.

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 SOUP (KIRMIZI MERCIMEK ÇORBASI)

Steps:

• In a large pot, bring to a boil 10 to 12 cups of water; add lentils, 2 teaspoons salt, cover and reduce heat, letting simmer for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat another pot, over medium heat, and add onions, cover with olive oil, and 1 teaspoon salt; once it begins to sizzle, reduce heat to low and cover for about 5 minutes.
• To the second pot, add bulgur, pepper, cayenne, and cumin; stir until lightly browned.
• Add tomatoes, tomato paste, parsley, and 4 cups chicken broth; bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.
• Pour the contents of the second pot into the large soup pot with the lentils; cover and simmer until the bulgur and the lentils are soft, about an additional 40 minutes.
• You may add additional water if you like a thinner soup (as we do).
• Stir in lemon juice or vinegar; serve a dollop of yogurt with each serving, if desired.

RED LENTIL SOUP-TURKISH STYLE

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan melt butter over medium heat.
• Add onions, lentils and carrots.
• Cook, stirring often for 5 minutes.
• Add paprika and tomato paste and stir well to mix.
• Reduce heat to low and cook for a few minutes.
• Gradually add stock or water, stirring constantly.
• Simmer uncovered until lentils are v-e-r-y soft, around 30 minutes.
• Transfer to a food processor or blender and puree to smooth.
• Return to pan and add milk or lemon juice to taste.
• Taste and add salt, pepper and cayenne.
• Give it 5 minutes and taste again, adjust seasonings.
• Ladle into bowls and offer croutons and mint at the table.

MERCIMEK KöFTESI TURKISH RED LENTIL KOFTE (VEGAN)

Steps:

• Boil the lentils in the water, uncovered, until they soak up most of the water, about 25-30 minutes.
• Add the bulgar and salt. Mix once and loosely cover to let the bulgar expand, then remove from the heat and let rest on a potholder about 10 minutes to let it cool off.
• Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the chopped onion and cook until soft, about 10-15 minutes.
• Add the tomato paste and cook another 1-2 minutes.
• Add the cumin and remove pan from heat. Stir once the heat is off.
• Add the onion-tomato paste-cumin mixture to the pot with lentils and bulgar, which should be cool by now. Add a few shakes of cayenne pepper to heat it up if you like.
• Add half of your parsley (about 1-1.5 tablespoons worth), the green onions, and lemon juice to the pot, and mix well.
• Take pieces of the kofte out of the pot and form them into kofte shape. The same size and shape as a Twinkie works, though traditional kofte is about half the size of a Twinkie.
• You can then arrange the lettuce leaves on a big plate and serve that way, but the real deal way to eat them is wrapping each kofte up in a lettuce leaf.

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!