Turkish lentil soup: Mercimek Çorbasi recipe
Turkish Lentil Soup (Mercimek Çorbasi the original name) is a delicious recipe made with red lentils and spices. Quick and easy to prepare thanks to the peeled lentils that have fast cooking times. A particularly thick soup that can be eaten both hot and cold at all hours of the day, just like they do in Istanbul. The soup is very fragrant thanks to the cumin, cardamom and lemon juice and has a bright red color thanks to the coral variety of lentils.
How to make Turkish Lentil Soup
These are the ingredients to prepare a Mercimek Çorbasi:
– hulled lentils 200 gr
– tomato sauce 200 gr
– potato 1
– carrots 1/2
– celery 1 costs
– onion 1
– seeds of cumin 1 teaspoon
– cardamom 3 seeds
– garlic 1 clove
– water 1 lt
– lemon 1/2
– coriander to taste
Method
Pour the lentils into a bowl 1 and rinse them under running water until the water becomes clear 2. Drain and set aside. Dice the celery, carrot and onion and put them in a large pot with a drizzle of oil to fry for a few minutes 3.
In the meantime, peel and dice the potato and add it to the sauté 4. Add the lentils and mix for about a minute 5. Season with salt and pepper 6.
Cover with hot water 7. Prepare a small bag with the garlic, cumin and cardamom inside. Add the tomato sauce and cook for about an hour and a half 8. If you see that the soup shrinks excessively, add a glass of water. Remove the sachet of aromas and blend with the blender 9. Add the juice of half a filtered lemon off the heat and sprinkle with the finely chopped coriander.
Advices
If you don’t have an aromas bag you can create it using food twine and suitable gauze.
Chilli in this recipe is not essential because it is already very tasty, but if you have fresh chilli, remove the seeds and chop finely. Add it at the end when you add the chopped coriander.
In case you can’t find fresh cilantro, use parsley.
You can accompany the soup with shrimp skewers with lemon and ginger, it will become an elegant dish to serve for dinner.
To have an even more dense soup, use tomato paste instead of puree. Two tablespoons of concentrate.