Red Lentil Soup Ramadan 5

I want to share another Ramadan tradition that is still alive especially in small cities. As it’s hard for traditions to survive in big cities, they are mostly seen in towns or small cities where people have more intimate relationships. On the other hand, people in big cities are always complaining that they don’t have these old traditions any more. One of theRamadan traditions I love is that neighbors send dishes to each other. And this is mostly the responsibility of the youngest family member. It was mine when I was a child. I remember that mom used to prepare a bowl of the dish of the day for one of our neighbors and tell me to take it to the neighbor. I must admit that I always wonder what our neighbor cooked on that day as she used to empty my bowl and fill it with the dish she cooked and give it in return, which is the second part of this tradition. That’s why I love it, it’s a very good way of sharing. In this way, you have a richer dinner table. And I think the significance of giving this responsibility to children is to teach them sharing. Mom used to decide on another neighbor next day and I used to take the dish to them. I used to walk so fast going and coming back form our neighbor as I didn’t want to miss the time of iftar. And when I heard imam’s voice on the way home, calling for the prayer (which means we can break our fast), I used to start to run! Everything was more exciting those times. But if there is no child in a house, you yourself take the dish to your neighbor. When I talk to mom on the phone these days, she says they still have this tradition in Tarsus, my hometown.

After breaking their fast, peole generally start their meal with a soup to warm their empty stomach. It also has a control on your appetite. When you start with a soup, as it removes the feeling of hunger, you eat enough from the other dishes. You always want to eat more if you don’t have a warm soup at the beginning. Among the soups I learnt from mom, red lentil soup is my favorite. Our negihbors used to love it, too. One bowl was never enough for them, so mom used to send them a small pot full of this soup. This is a traditional Turkish soup and you may find it at every Turkish restaurant at any time. Its cooking style may change although the ingredients are mostly the same. Here is mom’s style red lentil soup.

Mercimek Corbasi
Ingredients (servings 6)
-    1 medium sized onion, diced
-    1 medium sized carrot, finely chopped
-    1 medium potato, finely chopped
-    1 cup red lentil
-   6 cups water
-    1 tsp red pepper flakes
-    1 tsp cumin
-    1 tsp black pepper
-    1 tbsp dried mint
-    Salt to taste
-    2 tbsp olive oil
-    1 tbsp flour
-     1 ½ tbsp butter

Heat olive oil in a pot. Saute onion,  then add carrot and potatoes. Stir occasionally.

Wash red lentil, drain and add it to the pot. Saute it for 3 minutes. Keep stirring. Pour 6 cups water, add the spices and salt and boil it until the vegetables and lentils get soft enough. If they can easily be mashed when you press with a spoon, it’s done. It takes about 30 minutes over medium heat. Do not cover the pot during this time as it can rise and overflow.

In a small pan, melt the butter. Add flour and mix it continually. When it becomes creamy, pour it into the pot with lentils.

To have a smooth soup, mash everything in the pot using a blender. Then put the pot back on the fire and boil it for 5 minutes. It’s ready to warm your stomach now.

Traditionally, this soup is always served with lemon wedges. When you squeeze it on your soup, its taste is completed. To have the utmost pleasure, I always sprinkle extra red pepper flakes and dried mint on my soup.

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Thimble Soup Video

Thimber Soup from zerrin gunaydin on Vimeo.

NOTE: Do not forget to turn on the volume to hear the music of a Turkish band, Bandista.

Yüksük Çorbası

This is another popular wedding dish in Turkey, but this time its region is different. It is called yüksük çorbası (thimble for yüksük, soup for çorba) as its shape is like a small thimble. This is a traditional wedding dish of  Southern region of Turkey, especially of Çukurova area. It is mostly made in villages there. Everyone knows that yüksük çorbası will be served whenever there is a wedding in these villages as it is the main dish of the ceremony. Weddings are generally held in large squares of the village where all guests gather. And during the wedding, this traditional soup keeps boiling in big cauldrons on wood fire. Making this soup is not easy, so not only the families of bride and groom, but also their neighbors gather before the wedding day and make it altogether. As you can see in the video, the step which requires the most time is the filling the squares step. That’s why this step is done by all the women there while the final cooking/boiling step is done by one or two talented old ladies.

As it’s a wedding ceremony, the number of guests is more than two hundred. Both people of that village and the people living in villages nearby are invited to this ceremony, and this number increases.  The number of guests increases a lot more if the host of the ceremony is well known around the area. The higher the number of people joining the ceremony, the more reputable the host is.

Yuksuk corbasi is served to these guests on a tray by young men of the village. A handkerchief is tied on their arms to show that these young people are voluntary waiters of the ceremony. If people have something to  ask for something, they call one of these voluntary young people.

Meanwhile, there are two men playing drum and horn (image source is here) and if people want, they dance. Generally the first people who start the dance are the groom and his friends. While they are dancing, generally the groom’s family members throw banknotes towards the dancing people. This is like a show of reputation and power. A little boy who is appointed by the drummer picks these banknotes and gives them to the drummer. They share the money at the end of the ceremony.

After having a bowl of yuksuk corbasi, the guests congratulate bride and groom or their parents and leave.

Besides its fame on wedding ceremonies, this dish is also made in cities in daily life as the city people have no chance of joining wedding ceremonies at villages. It is very similar to manti (another traditional Turkish dish which is famous in Central Anatolia), but their cooking styles are different.

Ingredients

Its dough
-    4 cups flour
-    3 eggs
-    2 cups water, increase if needed
-    2 tsp salt

Knead the dough well by mixing all the necessary ingredients. While kneading,, wet your hands occasionally and you can add more water if it doesn’t reach the right consistency. Knead it until it doesn’t stick to your hands. Divide this dough into big equal pieces. The dough we knead makes 4 equal balls and a small ball. Sprinkle some flour on them and cover them.

Its filling mixture
-    3 small onions, chopped
-    1lb ground beef
-    Half bunch of parsley, chopped
-    1 dessert spoon salt
-    1 dessert spoon paprika powder
-    1 dessert spoon ground blak pepper
-    1 dessert spoon pepper paste

Mix all these ingredients for the filling mixture.

Sprinkle some flour on the counter. the one you take on it and sprinkle flour on it, too. Then press on this dough and flatten it. Then roll it out in a circular way. (See the video above). While rolling, sprinkle little flour on it occasionally so that it doesn’t stick to the rolling pin. When it gets as thin as we want, sprinkle flour on it and fold it as you see n the video. And cut this first into stripes, then into squares. Take one square, put little filling mixture into it and combine its four corners to give it a thimble shape. If you like, you can combine its two corners to give it a triangular shape. Put the ones you finish on a large tray, do not overfill the tray, otherwise they all stick to each other.

Its final cooking
-    2 cups meat broth
-    2 cups chickpeas, boiled
-    1 lemon

Put water (about 4 cups) in a pot. Add meat broth and chickpeas, bring it to boil. when it boils pour lemon juice and add salt. Then put the dumplings in the boling water little by little. After about 10 minutes, they’ll start to float, which means it’s done. Take it from heat and pour 1 cup of cold water into the pot. This will help the dumplings not to stick to each other.

We generally put about 3 cups of dumplings to make this dish and we leave the rest to put into freezer to cook later. If you want to do the same, just cook the rest of the dumplings in oven until they are light brown. Let them cool and then put them in freezer in freezer bags.
Now we can prepare its sauce.

Its sauce
-    2 tbsp olive oil
-    1 dessert spoon pepper paste
-    1 dessert spoon dried mint
-    Paprika powder and ground black pepper for your taste
-    2 tomatoes, grated

Note: If you don’t have pepper paste for the sauce, you can substitute it with red pepper flakes or paprika powder.

Heat the oil, put the pepper paste in it and mix. Add grated tomato and spices. It’s ready after 3 minutes. Pour the sauce into the soup and stir. It is ready to serve.

You can also prepare a bowl of yogurt sauce to serve with it.

Yogurt sauce
-    1 cup yogurt
-    3 cloves garlic, mashed

Mix these together until smooth and serve in a seperate bowl. If you want, you can also drizzle some yogurt sauce on this soup and enjoy it more. Personally, I love both versions, so I have half of my soup plain and then I put some yogurt sauce on it and double my joy for the other half. I don’t exclude none of the versions in this way.

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