Ezogelin Corbasi - Turkish Red Lentil Soup

Red Lentil Soup is the Turkish version of the stone soup. It is made up of ingredients typically found in the pantry of a Turkish home. I had most of the ingredients except bulgur in my pantry. This delicious soup is flavored with red pepper paste and tomato paste.

To make the red pepper paste I used red bell pepper as I could not find red banana pepper. The authentic recipe calls for the pepper to be cooked in water, peeled, de-seeded and then the pulp cooked to a paste. I roasted the pepper and covered it in aluminum foil for 15 minutes. The skin peeled right off the pepper. I then removed the seeds, cut it into pieces and ran it through the blender. As for tomato paste I had a can of organic tomato paste but it smelled of citric acid so I pureed a handful of cherry tomatoes.

Recipe adapted from here

You will need
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup red lentils
2 tbsp. rice
8 cups water
2 tbsp. red pepper paste
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1 medium tomatoes
2 tbsp. bulgur
1 tsp. paprika or cayenne powder (more if needed)
1/2 tsp. dry mint or a drop of mint extract
salt to taste

Wash the red lentils and rice. Drain and keep aside. Boil 8 cups of water in a separate pan. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the onion and garlic. Saute until tender and translucent. Add the red pepper paste, tomato paste and diced tomatoes. Cook for a couple minutes. Add the red lentils, rice, bulgur.

Add the water and bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the mint and paprika. Add salt to taste.

Turn of heat and serve hot.