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–+ servings
Turkish lentil soup garnished with fresh mint and spices in a white bowl.
5 from 7 votes

Mercimek Çorbasi (Turkish Red Lentil Soup)

By Zerrin & Yusuf
Spicy red lentil soup with potato, onion and carrot flavors.
Yields: 6 servings
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PREP 10 minutes
COOK 30 minutes
TOTAL 40 minutes

INGREDIENTS
  

Soup:

  • 1 cup red lentils rinsed well
  • 1 medium onion diced
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 medium carrot chopped
  • 1 small potato chopped
  • 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons dried mint
  • 1½ teaspoons salt or to taste
  • 6 cups water

Sauce:

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon dried mint

INSTRUCTIONS
 

  • Combine lentils, onion, garlic, carrot, potato and spices in a large pot. Pour water over them. Cook it uncovered until it boils over medium high heat.
  • Bring the heat to medium low and let it simmer, stirring occasionally until everything is tender.
  • Blend it until smooth using an immersion blender (aka hand blender) or a food processor. Put it back over the lowest heat and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.
  • For the olive oil sauce, put olive oil, tomato paste, paprika and dried mint in a sauce pan. Mix them well and cook for 30 seconds or so.
  • Either pour the sauce in the pot and stir everything well or pour it over the bowls when serving.

NOTES

  1. This Turkish lentil soup recipe isn't supposed to be very thick. So, if you see yours becoming too thick, add about ½ cup of hot water before removing the soup from the heat. Whisk it in well.
  2. For this recipe, you can use any type of blender or food processor that you have. If you don't have any, you can pass them through a fine-meshed sieve. Or, you can just leave it as-is (chunky).
  3. Be careful when blending as the soup will be really hot.
  4. To reheat, add a little bit of water, about ¼ to ⅓ cup. When the soup sits in the fridge, it thickens up quite a lot. And as we’ve said, it shouldn’t be a thick soup.
  5. You don’t have to add the oil sauce to this soup, but we highly recommend it. It deepens the flavor and adds some color.

NUTRITION

Calories: 188kcalCarbohydrates: 27gProtein: 9gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gSodium: 633mgPotassium: 524mgFiber: 11gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 2047IUVitamin C: 10mgCalcium: 47mgIron: 3mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

ADDITIONAL INFO

Course Dinner
Cuisine Turkish
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