Red lentil soup, mercimek çorbası, is one of the most common dishes in Turkey. It is served in lokantas, inexpensive eateries with home-style food, and at home it is cooked in a single pot.

The recipe was shared by Yasemin Gürsürer, the author of the Turkish cooking website Yemek.com.

The original soup is made with stock from a cube, and the topping uses butter. For a meatless version, use water or vegetable stock and replace the butter with oil.

What you need

For 6 servings:

  • sunflower oil — 3 tbsp;
  • onion — 1;
  • flour — 1 tbsp;
  • carrot — 1;
  • potato — 1 large;
  • salt — 1 dessert spoon;
  • ground black pepper — 1 tsp;
  • red or yellow lentils — 1.5 cups;
  • hot water or stock — 6 cups.

For the topping:

  • oil — 3 tbsp;
  • butter — 2 tbsp, or oil for a meatless version;
  • ground red pepper — 1 dessert spoon.

How to make it

1. Fry the onion. Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a deep pot and fry the coarsely chopped onion.

2. Add the flour and vegetables. Add the flour and fry until it smells toasty and takes on some colour. Add the coarsely chopped carrot and potato and stir.

3. Add the lentils. Season with salt and pepper, add the well-rinsed and drained lentils and stir well once more.

4. Cook the soup. Pour in the hot water or stock, cover and cook for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the potato and carrot are soft.

5. Blend. Blend the soup with a stick blender until smooth and simmer for another 5 minutes.

6. Make the topping. Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan, add the ground red pepper and heat for 2 minutes.

Ladle the soup into bowls and drizzle the hot red oil on top. It keeps well in the fridge for several days and can be thinned with a little water when reheated.

As a reminder, we recently explained how to make meatless braised cabbage.

Nota bene

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