Turkish Bride Lentil Soup 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 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 BRIDE SOUP

Steps:

• Melt butter in large pan on medium heat. Add onions, turn heat to medium-low and cook, stirring, 15 minutes, until golden.
• Stir in paprika. Add lentils and bulgur. Cook, 1 minute, stirring to coat.
• Stir in 10 cups broth, tomato paste and cayenne. Turn heat to medium-high and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 1 hour, partly covered, until bulgur is soft and creamy.
• Stir in mint. Remove from heat. Cover and let sit 10 minutes.
• Add some or all of remaining 2 cups broth to adjust to desired consistency. Add salt.
• Garnish with dollop of yogurt, lemon slice and mint leaf.

TURKISH BRIDE SOUP

Steps:

• Heat butter in large pot over low heat. Add onions and sauté until golden, about 10 minutes. Add paprika, lentils and bulgur and stir.
• Add stock, tomato paste and cayenne and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until lentils are tender and bulgur is creamy, about 40 minutes. Add a little more stock if soup gets too thick. Crumble dried mint leaves and stir into soup.
• Remove soup from heat, cover and set aside 10 minutes. Ladle soup into bowls, and garnish with lemon slices and fresh mint.

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.