While shopping in our local bazaar last week, I saw a woman selling some traditional soup ingredients on a very small stand in front of her. You may wonder what I mean with soup ingredients. Hee, women prepare some soup ingredients and keep them for Winter. They are like the healthy and delicious version of industrially-made soups. Some of these ingredients were varieties of noodle like dough pieces; some of them are in strips, some are in tiny squares. In addition, there were also the varieties of tarhana, which is a sun dried soup ingredient mainly containing several grounded vegetables and yogurt. All these were in plastic bags of 1 kg. You know I love talking to such ladies in bazaar, I assume that they know a lot of things about cooking, so I never miss the chance of talking to them in bazaar. That lady didn’t look like a usual bazaar seller, she was different as she wasn’t calling customers, she was just sitting behind her small stand and waiting for foodies interested in traditional soups. She said that she herself made all these soup ingredients, which means a plus for me. These ingredients are all unique as ou can’t find them at supermarkets. They don’t have a company product version, so such ladies are like great treasures if you don’t have time to prepare the ingredients yourself. Among all the ingredients on her stand, these teeny weeny squares took my attention. They were just like the ones mom used to make. It was surprising for me to see it in the bazaar miles away from my hometown. The lady’s recipe for this soup was different from mom’s, but I prefered to make it in mom’s style as I was sure it would take me to my childhood.
When she was younger, mom used to make our own bread like phyllo sheets and they would meet our monthly bread need. We wouldn’t buy bread loaves then. And whenever there was some piece of dough left, she would make these tiny squares from it. I mean she wouldn’t prepare the dough just for making the squares, but made these just after finishing rolling the phyllo sheets. The soup made of these squares are called Tutmac Soup or Kesme Soup.
The procedure to make these tumac squares is almost the same with Thimble Soup(Yüksük Corbasi), so you can check the recipe for the dough here. The only difference is that you will cut the squares even smaller and you will not stuff them with anything. After cutting them, dry them in a preheated oven over 170C for about 15-20 minutes. Then put them in jars and you can keep them for months. Whenever you want to make a traditional soup for your guests, you can make tutmac soup with these squares.
PrintTutmac Soup
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Ingredients
- 1 cup green lentil
- 1/2 cup tutmac squares
- (or noodles you like)
- 5 or 6 cups water
- 1/2 lemon, squeezed
- 1 tbsp pepper paste (or 2 tbsp tomato paste)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp dried mint
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Boil the green lentils until tender and drain to get rid of its black water.
- Pour 5 cups of water in a pot, add lentils and bring it to boil. When it boils, add the squares or noodles and simmer until they get soft (about 10-15 minutes).
- Pour lemon juice into the pot. Remove from heat.
- Melt the butter in a pan, saute the onions and garlic in it. Put pepper paste and dried mint, mix until combined.
- Pour this mixture in the pot, sprinkle some salt, stir and bring it to boil.
- If you like, you can drizzle some yogurt on it.
dokuzuncubulut says
02/08 at 01:18Sevgili Zerrin, çorba mükemmel görünüyor. Bu çorbayı annem yapardı, bana o günleri hatırlattı. Ellerine sağlık. Bütün yemeklerin mükemmel görünüyor, sevgiyle yapıldıkları belli…
Sevgiler…
Sophie says
12/17 at 02:30What a festive, filling & ooh so good for you soup this is!!!
MMMMMM,…I can’t wait to try it out!! Thanks!! I wish you & your family a wonderful & Merry & happy Christmas, Zerrin!
Natasha - 5 Star Foodie says
12/15 at 20:59What a unique and delicious soup! I know I’m going to love these Tutmac squares!
Erica says
12/15 at 07:35I love soups! Your soup sounds interesting and delicious! Perfect for the cold weather here in CT.
Reeni says
12/14 at 17:30I like the idea of having soup ingredients ready to go. Any time is a good soup time for me! This look so warming and delicious. I would love to try the tutmac.
Faith says
12/14 at 13:48This is a lovely soup, Zerrin, and it sounds perfect with some yogurt drizzled on top! I loved reading about your traditional soup ingredients, I wish we had a product like that here!
Gera @ SweetsFoods says
12/14 at 11:47I’ve never tasted this type of soup, especially for the Tutmac squares 😀
It looks elegant and worth trying it on a cold and rainy day!
Cheers,
Gera
Cajun Chef Ryan says
12/14 at 06:11Zerrin, tutmac is new to me, always nice to learn something new and that is what I love so much about your blog.
Regards,
CCR
=:~)
The Little Teochew says
12/13 at 18:34Zerrin, this is my first time seeing this soup and it really looks hearty. I can understand why people eat this in winter. It will warm the heart and soul. I like the personal anecdotes you provided, like how your mom made tiny squares from leftover dough. 🙂
jenn (Bread + Butter) says
12/13 at 17:55Delicious soup. I love little bread squares. Good way to use up leftover dough.
Jessie says
12/13 at 16:08that is such a great idea, having soup ingredients ready made. This soup looks comforting and tasty!
lk says
12/13 at 15:11I love the idea of heaving soup ingredients ready to go all winter! This looks really good and comforting – perfect for this miserable weather we’ve been having.
OysterCulture says
12/13 at 13:38What a delicious and interesting sounding soup – I cannot wait to give it a try. I love the combination of ingredients and look forward to sampling for myself.