Turkish Lentil Soup: Ezo Gelin or Daughter-in-law's Soup

Ezo Gelin

This  is a slight variation from the earlier soup, the Turkish Red Lentil Soup; very easy, wonderful for winter   and freezes well too. This recipe has been sourced from Claudia's  A Seasonal Cook in Turkey.  I have only made one substitution to this recipe: instead of beef stock, I have used water. One can also substitute chicken stock or vegetable stock.

The only slight difference is that this soup does not use cummin, vegetables and the final addition of lemon juice.

Ingredients

1/2 Cup of red lentils, washed, and drained
2 tbsps rice or bulgur wheat, washed and drained [rice used here]
4 Cups of Water or Vegetable Stock
4 tbsps of Butter
2 tbsps of tomato paste
1/2 Cup finely chopped onions
1 tsp dried mint
Dried Red Chilli flakes
Salt and Black Pepper powder to season

Method

Wash and drain the red lentils
Heat 4 tbsps of butter,
Saute the onions until soft,
Add the tomato paste, rice,  and lentils,
Add the stock or water,
Cook  on simmer until done, for about 30 minutes,
Season with salt, pepper, dried mint and red chilli flakes.

Notes: I did like the other version, especially the addition of lemon juice.