Turkish Red Lentil Soup With Mint Food

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 LENTIL SOUP

Steps:

• In a large pot, add butter and olive oil and saute chopped onion and red bell pepper until pepper is tender, about 5-8 minutes. Then add chopped garlic and saute until caramelized, about 1-2 minutes.
• Next, add dried mint, paprika and Turkish red pepper (or you can substitute regular red pepper and stir spices together in the oil
• Stir in the tomato paste, chopped tomato and lemon zest. Stir everything together and season with salt and pepper. Allow the tomatoes to cook for 1-2 minutes to soften.
• Next, add dried red lentils, white rice and red quinoa (or you have another type of quinoa, that's fine too). Stir all the grains together so the flavors are tossed with the rice and quinoa.
• Add 8 cups of vegetable broth and bring soup to a boil Cook the soup for about 30 minutes until rice, lentils and quinoa are tender. Taste for doneness and seasoning.
• Once soup is cooked, you can use an immersion blender to puree some of the soup for a better texture. Garnish with a squeeze of lemon, olive oil, fresh herbs.

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.

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.

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.