National Dishes of the World

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Mercimek çorbası (red lentil soup)
Photo: E4024, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

soup vegetarian

Mercimek çorbası (red lentil soup)

mercimek çorbası

A velvety puréed red lentil soup drizzled with paprika butter and served with lemon – an everyday Turkish classic.

Eaten in: Türkiye

Prep
15 min
Cooking
35 min
Total
50 min
Servings
6

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About the dish

Red lentil soup is the most popular soup in Turkey: it is eaten at home, in simple lokanta canteens and to start iftar, the evening meal during Ramadan. The lentils are cooked with onion, carrot and a little potato, then blended into a smooth, velvety, golden purée. In the bowl it is drizzled with butter sizzled with red pepper flakes and dried mint, with a wedge of lemon on the side to squeeze in. Fresh bread is often all that goes with it. Many households cook it with chicken stock, others with nothing but water.

Main ingredients

  • red lentils
  • onion
  • carrot
  • potato
  • butter
  • pepper flakes
  • lemon

Recipe

Mercimek çorbası (red lentil soup)

https://foodmap.ominuvo.com/dish/mercimek-corbasi

Ingredients

6 servings

6 servings

Method

  1. Rinse the lentils in a sieve until the water runs almost clear.

  2. Chop the onion and dice the carrot and potato. Soften the onion in the butter and oil, add the vegetables and tomato paste and fry for 2–3 minutes.

  3. Add the lentils and stock, bring to the boil and simmer, partly covered, for about 25 minutes until everything falls apart.

  4. Blend the soup until smooth and season with cumin, salt and pepper. If it is too thick, add a little hot water.

  5. Just before serving, heat the butter in a small pan, add the pepper flakes and mint and take it off the heat as soon as it foams.

  6. Ladle the soup into bowls, drizzle with the paprika butter and serve with lemon wedges.

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