Turkish Red Lentil Soup

Turkish Red Lentil Soup

We had this red lentil soup from a local Greek restaurant. It was the house special and our server told us that it was their favourite dish, the servers had it all day long. It turned out to be great! Perfect reason to try out  this recipe from Ozlem, whose recipes I've been bookmarking  for sometime! :-)

This is a hearty soup from the Anatolia region of Turkey. People from South Asia will spice it up in many different ways and it is  part of everyday food in the form of 'Dal' in many parts of Northern India.  I have kept Ozlem's recipe, except for omitting the potato. I also sauted the onions a bit  of ghee/ clarified butter before cooking the lentils.

Ingredients

1 Cup  skinned whole red lentils, cleaned, rinsed and drained.

[Split lentils are  the regular choice ]

1tablespoon long grain rice, rinsed and drained
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 small carrot carrot cut in small cubes
5 cups hot water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 ½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon (or more!) red pepper flakes
Juice of ½ lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Put the olive oil, lentils, rice, onion, carrot, potato and hot water in a large heavy pan.
Bring to boil and skim off any froth.
Over a medium heat, simmer for about 30 minutes or until the lentils, rice and the vegetables cooked.
Stir occasionally to ensure the lentils don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
Once cooked, add the lemon juice, butter, cumin and red pepper flakes.
Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to your taste, mix well.

This recipe goes to Priya's Bookmarked Recipes, Every Tuesday event.