Topic: Mercimek Corbasi (Turkish lentil soup)

[StoneCut]

This is a restaurant-quality recipe for a turkish lentil soup. There are likely as many variations of this soup as there are turks. You can tell you're in an authentic place if you see turks sitting there eating this soup. Can be used as a starter or main course. Consistency should be a lot like a cream of tomato soup.

Stage 1:
375g red lentils
2 onions, chopped
1 large potato, finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp vegetable stock powder (or use 2 liters of vegetable stock instead of this and the water)
1 tsp black pepper, crushed
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 liters water

Stage 2:
1 Tbsp fresh mint, finelymchopped (or 1 heaped tsp dried mint, perfectly fine)
1/2 Tbsp fresh basil, finelymchopped
1/2 Tbsp fresh parsley, finelymchopped
2 1/2 Tbsp butter
1/2 Tbsp sweet paprika powder
1/2 Tbsp hot paprika powder ('Pul Biber')
1 1/2 Tbsp tomato paste (double concentrated)

Stage 3:
1 tsp cumim powder
2-3 tsp lemon or lime juice

Garnish (per plate/deep dish):
1 pinch of cumin
1 pinch of crushed chilli flakes
2 basil leaves

Stage 1:
Wash the lentils well using cold water. Peel and chop the potato, carrot, onions amd garlic.

Bring the water to a boil in a large pot and add the potato, carrot, onions, lentils and powdered vegetable stock (you can replace the water and powdered vegetable stock with 'proper' vegetable stock if you want, but the powdered stuff is fine). Once everything has come a boil again, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer with a lid on for 30 minutes. Stir often to avoid the lentils catching on the bottom of the pot.

Stage 2:
After 30 minutes, melt the butter in a frying pan and add the tomato paste, paprika powders as well as the basil and parsley. Keep stirring and fry it all for about 2-3 minutes to cook the rawness out of the tomato paste. Don't let it burn. Once done, add everything to the pot and continue to cook for another 5-10 minutes. Then use an immersion/stick blender to blend the soup well.

Stage 3:
Add the cumin powder and lemon or lime juice and stir well.

Serve and Garnish
Finally, ladle soup into deep dishes and garnish with a pinch of cumin, a pinch of crushed chilli flakes and 2 leaves of basil. You can also add some more lemon or lime juice if you like.

Serve with flatbread or toast.

Please try it and let me know if you think it's as good or better as BIR dhal

[Naga]

Thanks for posting this recipe, StoneCut! I'm a big fan of soups so I'll definitely be giving this a go. Stage 1 is very like the sort of lentil soup I'd usually  make, albeit with ham hough for the stock, but I like the look of the additional, more "exotic" ingredients. I reckon, just reading over the recipe, that it'll be a real winter winner!

[curryhell]

Having just discovered that i like the flavour or dhall after trying Colin Grigson's authentic simple dhall recipe, this is definitely going on the radar Stonecut.  Thanks for the recipe 

[StoneCut]

Please give it a go and report back you can substitute the second 'hot' paprika with another 1/2 Tbsp of sweet paprika to make it kids-friendly.

[loveitspicy]

Superb

I will give it a try mate

best, Rich

[Naga]

I finally exhausted my plentiful supplies of Spicy Butternut and Carrot soup yesterday, so I set about making a batch of Mercimek Corbasi this afternoon.

I made it exactly to spec, although I did add 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper to season the soup. The only thing I wasn't clear on was when to add the fresh mint and I couldn't decide whether it should be cooked in or added at the end of the cooking time. In the end, I just chucked it in along with the other herbs.



It was very nice - different to a traditional Scottish lentil soup of course, and markedly different to the spiced carrot and lentil soup I make once or twice a month. The flavours melded together very well with no single flavour dominating the dish. If anything, it needed a bit more of kick for my tastes, so I'll add a good pinch of crushed chilli flakes at cooking time when I next make it.

[StoneCut]

The mint goes in together with the basil and parsley so you did it exactly right. I forgot that in the instructions, sorry!

Stage 1 already includes some salt & pepper but you can add more to taste, of course. As with anything, really.

Yes, it's pretty mild but if you can get "proper" Pul Biber (hot turkish paprika powder) then it can be fairly hot, depending on the brand. The easiest way to spice it up is to either use chilli flakes (as you figured) or just plain old cayenne pepper.

Anyway, I'm really glad you liked it

[Naga]

...Anyway, I'm really glad you liked it

It's an excellent soup, and the garnishes of cumin, chilli flakes and basil (and I added shredded fresh mint leaves!) took it to a whole new level. My good lady wife and I polished off the last of it for lunch today. Very nice!

[chewytikka]

I was a bit slow at figuring out what made this "Turkish"?
But obviously, explaining the hot Turkish Paprika powder (Pul Biber) being the key to it. I get it now!

I'm no stranger to Turkish Restaurants, but have to admit, I never took much notice of their soups.
We used to order a huge bin lid of Meze to kick the night off.

I'll give this soup a try, if I can source the genuine Paprika.

Thanks for sharing
cheers Chewy

[Peripatetic Phil]

I was a bit slow at figuring out what made this "Turkish"?

Well, perhaps the title ("Mercimek