Turkish lentil soup
This red lentil soup is popular in Turkey where it is served in most eating places.
Ingredients
1 cup red lentils
(1/4 cup bulghur, optional)
1,5 vegetable stock cube
2 onions
3 cloves garlic
0,5 tsp paprika powder
0,5 tsp ground cumin
0,4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tomatoes
about 5 tbsp olive oil
handful of parsley
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
fresh lemon slices to serve
Directions
Pour a couple of glasses of water in a pot and boil it. Once the water is boiling, add lentils and boil on low heat (as the lentils will become bigger, add water occasionally). At the same time, chop the onions, garlic, parsley and tomatoes. Fry onion and garlic in olive oil until transluscent. Add paprika powder, cayenne pepper, ground cumin and stir. Add tomato paste, chopped parsley, tomatoes and stir. Heat for some minutes. Add vegetable stock cubes, dissolved in 2 cups of hot water. If you are using bulghur, add it. Mix everything on the pan and add it to the lentils in the pot. If the soup seems too thick, add more water. Add bay leaves. Boil on low heat for about 15-20 minutes, occasionally stirring and adding water. Add salt and pepper according to taste. The soup is ready once the lentils have broken into small bits (and the bulghur is soft). If neccessary, use a hand mixer to puree the soup a bit (remove the bay leaves before doing that).
To serve, pour some soup in a bowl and squeeze fresh lemon juice on it, and sprinkle some ground black pepper.
Serves 4-5.
