We first tasted Turkish red lentil soup around 2010. We were researching Food Lovers’ Guide to Boston when we encountered it at a now-vanished Financial District lunch buffet restaurant. The chef was Turkish and, after some nudging, he gave us a recipe for the soup to publish in the book. When we visited Istanbul the year after that book appeared, we realized that the recipe we had printed was good, but was only the most basic version of the soup. Well-suited to a buffet line, it was too one-dimensional to enter our home soup rotation on a regular basis. Thus began our quest to perfect red lentil soup.
Eating in Istanbul was probably the most important part of the research. We had our tastiest bowl at Ciya Sofrasi (Caferağa Mh., Güneşli Bahçe Sk No: 43, Kadiköy, tel +90 216-330-3190, ciya.com.tr), one of Istanbul’s most celebrated lokantasi, or high-class buffet restaurants. That’s our waitress at the top of this post, delivering soup and some other hot plates.
We realized that while red lentil soup is often served as a highly puréed dish, we preferred versions that had a little more tooth. Every version had three elements in common: red lentils, hot pepper, and copious quantities of mint. But at Istanbul’s Spice Bazaar (Mısır Çarşısı) those ingredients are arrayed with rice and cracked wheat. We felt that gave us license to experiment. The grains add a chewy quality to the soup and make a bowl as variegated as the mosaic patterns inside the city’s beautiful mosques. Here’s our final version. It’s a hearty porridge loaded with flavors, textures, vitamins, and protein.
RED LENTIL SOUP
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 large carrots, peeled and diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 cups chicken stock
- 1 1/4 cup red lentils
- 1/4 cup fine bulgur
- 1/4 cup brown rice
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika
- 1 teaspoon Turkish or Aleppo pepper
- 1/3 cup dried mint
- 2 cups diced tomatoes (or 14 oz can diced tomatoes)
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over high heat. Cook and stir the onion in the hot oil until it begins to soften, about 2 minutes. Stir the carrots and garlic into the onion and cook another 2 minutes.
Pour in the chicken stock. Add red lentils, bulgur, rice, tomato paste, paprika, Turkish or Aleppo pepper, and mint to the mixture. Stir in diced tomatoes. Season with salt and black pepper. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook at a simmer until the the lentils and rice are cooked through, about 30 minutes. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil or dollop of Greek yogurt.