Turkish Red Lentil Soup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the most famous soup in Turkey? ›

Mercimek soup, known as Turkish lentil soup, is one of the most favored traditional soups in Türkiye. It's a very simple dish requiring only a few ingredients yet its taste is matchless! Lentils are legumes that are very high in fiber, are packed with vitamin B, and a great source of potassium.

Add the water, lentils, chick peas, white kidney beans, diced tomatoes, carrots, celery, garam masala, cardamom, cayenne pepper and cumin. Bring to a boil for a few minutes then simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or longer, until the lentils are soft. Puree half the soup in a food processor or blender.

You can also use flour or cornflour to thicken a soup. Put a tablespoon of either into a small bowl and stir in 2-3 tbsp of the soup until you have a smooth mixture. Stir this back into the soup and bring it to a simmer.

Choosing Your Lentils

The other good news: Lentils don't need to soak as beans do (though you do need to sort and rinse them before cooking). Different types of lentils cook in different amounts of time. Red lentils are the fastest cooking and they dissolve as they cook and make for a smooth soup.

According to the Taste Atlas Awards, the international food database, the Filipino favorite, Sinigang, is hailed as the best soup in the world.

Breakfast in Ottoman Cuisine

In the Ottoman society , there was a habit of eating after the prayers in the mornings and evenings at these times. Thus, only two meals a day were eaten. Soup was usually drunk in the morning. Moreover, this habit still continues in rural areas of Anatolia.

Soluble fiber found in red lentils binds to “bad” cholesterol and helps our body excrete it through bile acids. This helps to lower our cholesterol, which helps keep our heart healthy by reducing the risk for Atherosclerotic plaque.

History and literature

The Roman cookbook Apicius, compiled in the 1st century AD, includes a recipe for lentil soup with chestnuts. Lentil soup is mentioned in the Bible: In Genesis 25:30-34, Esau is prepared to give up his birthright for a pot of fragrant red lentil soup being cooked by his brother, Jacob.

Those look to be radicles (embryonic stems, the part the root grows from) that have separated from the lentils. If you look closely at the less squished lentils in your soup, you'll probably see some with the radicles still attached.

Not adding any aromatics to the pot.

Add aromatics to the water or, even better, use chicken or vegetable stock instead of water. Follow this tip: Add a few cloves of garlic, a bay leaf, a spring of rosemary, half of an onion, or a combination of these aromatics to the cooking water or stock to help flavor the lentils.

Can you overcook lentils in soup? ›

Yes, you can overcook lentils; they will become mushy. Much depends on the type of lentil you're using. Some cook quicker and hold their shape better than others. To avoid overcooking them, always follow the cooking directions in your recipe and use the type of lentils called for in the ingredient list.

Heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat, add the garlic, carrots and bouillon powder (see below), then fry gently for 5 minutes, or until softened, stirring regularly. Add the lentils, then pour in 1 litre of water and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally.

As the veggies hit the boiling water, volatile acids are released into the water and are carried away in the steam. When the pot is covered, the steam and the acids it contains are forced back into the water. Once there, the acids react with the chlorophyll in the vegetables, turning them an unsightly shade of brown.

While not rinsing lentils may not pose an immediate safety risk, it is generally recommended to rinse them before cooking to ensure a cleaner and more enjoyable meal. If you have already cooked the soup, you can still enjoy it, but be mindful of any potential debris or grit that may be present.

Sultan's soup is also known as Ottoman soup. Originally served to the sultans of that era, it is typically made from chicken, thickened with flour and an egg yolk and then flavoured with blanched almonds.

Turkish Lentil Soup Ingredients:

Veggies: This lentil soup recipe is made with a simple base of onion (white or yellow), carrot, and a small potato (I used a Yukon gold). Stock: Either vegetable or chicken stock — whichever you prefer. Red lentils: Which cook quickly and break down well in this soup.

Tarhana is made by mixing flour, yoghurt or sour milk, and optionally cooked vegetables, salt, groats, and spices (notably tarhana herb), letting the mixture ferment, then drying, and usually grinding and sieving the result.

There are more than 300 kinds of soup in the Turkish cuisine. Soups can be consumed any time of the day in Turkey and may be served hot or cold depending on the recipe and ingredients. And if a soup is accompanied by plenty of Turkish bread, it can be sufficient for a meal.