Bowl of Red Lentil & Mint Soup
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Red Lentil & Mint Soup


Turkey   -   Ezo Gelin Çorbasi
Serves:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 6 soup
***
1-3/4 hrs
Yes		 This delicious soup, very popular in Turkey, is easy to make, and can be easily made vegetarian. For other versions, see our recipe Red Lentil & Bulgur Soup and Red Lentil & Wheat Soup.




1/2
1/4
1/4
9
6
1
2
5
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1
1/2
1
2/3
1/3
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2
1
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c
c
c
oz
oz
cl
T
c
---
t
t
T
t
t
---
T
t
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Red Lentils
Bulgur, fine (1)
Rice
Tomato
Onion
Garlic
Olive Oil, ExtV
Stock (2)
-- Seasonings
Paprika
Chili powder (3)  
Mint, dry (4)
Salt
Pepper
-- Finish
Butter
Mint, dry
-- Serve with
Lemon Wedges

The one hassle is the purée step, pulling out, setting up, using, cleaning and putting away with the food processor, but nothing says you can't make it "peasant style" without puréeing.

Prep   -   (17 min)
  1. Wash Lentils, Bulgur, and Rice. Mix.
  2. Scald TOMATOES in boiling water, quench in cold water, peel and chop fine.
  3. Chop ONIONS small.
  4. Crush GARLIC and chop fine.
Run   -   (1-1/4 hr)
  1. In a sauce pan or sufficient size for the whole recipe (a 3 quart pan is good), heat Olive Oil and fry Onions until just translucent. Stir in the Garlic until you can smell it, no browning. Stir in the Tomatoes and fry stirring until most of their liquid has evaporated.
  2. Stir in Lentil mix, then Stock and all Seasoning items. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer slowly for about 30 minutes, stirring now and then.
  3. Reserve about 1 cup of the Soup for texture. Run the rest in a food processor until it is quite smooth.
  4. Pour Soup back into the pan along with Reserved Soup. Bring up to a simmer over very low heat and adjust the liquid with boiling water as needed. At this point it will stick to the bottom of the pan, so stir it up often.
  5. Heat Butter in a small pan until it starts to bubble. Turn off the heat and stir in the mint. Stir into the Soup.
  6. Serve hot with Lemon Wedges.   Note: for buffet service it's better to just stir in a tablespoon of lemon juice.
NOTES:

  1. Bulgur:

      This is parboiled and crushed wheat which cooks very fast, not cracked wheat. Fine is Bulgur #1

  2. Stock:

      The pattern recipe calls for chicken stock, but if you want to make this vegetarian, use our Vegetable Stock or similar.

  3. Chili Powder:

      The pattern recipe calls for Cayenne, but I use Indian Reshampatti which is a little less hot but with better flavor. 1/2 t makes it just noticeably hot by Southern California standards Use your own best judgement. For details see our Chil Powders / Flake.

  4. Mint:

      Unlike most other regions, Turks prefer dried mint for most uses.
  5. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove, in=inch, ar=as required, tt=to taste
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