Red Lentil Soup

This classic Turkish-Eastern Mediterranean soup is the ultimate comfort dish. This version started with Anya von Bremzen, a wonderful food writer and cookbook author who has an apartment in Istanbul. Her good friend and cookbook author extraordinaire Melissa Clark adapted it for one of her many cookbooks, In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite. We’ve made a few more adaptations.

Filed Under: Mediterranean Diet, Soups & Appetizers, Dinner, Vegetarian

Rating

Average: 5 (1 vote)

Active time

15 minutes

Total time

1 hour

Yield

5 servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon Aleppo or Maras pepper

1 large tomato, chopped

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 ½ teaspoons dried mint

1 cup red lentils

¼ cup bulgur, coarse or ﬁne

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2 cups water

Instructions

In a large pot or dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat, and add the onion, garlic, salt and red pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the onion is soft.
Add in the tomatoes, tomato paste, mint, lentils, bulgur, chicken stock and water.
Cover and simmer for 45 minutes or more, until the lentils are tender.
Serve in a bowl with a sprinkle of mint and red pepper, if you wish.

Recipe adapted from Melissa Clark who adapted it from Anya von Bremzen, Oldways photo

Nutrition

Calories: 240
Total Fat: 7g
Saturated Fat: 1g
Sodium :860 mg
Carbohydrate: 37g
Fiber: 6g
Total Sugar: 4g
Added Sugar: 2g
Protein:11 g

Yield: 5 servings

How'd it Taste?

Audrey Havenor

January 24, 2022

While I had to tweak the recipe a little bit, this soup turned out quite well for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the taste of mint, and found this soup to have a healing aroma. I used chicken broth instead of stock, and I did not have a tomato for the recipe. So I simply used more tomato paste to make up for the lack of a tomato. I love the texture of the soup, but for those who really want a creamy taste I could foresee them running the finished product through a food processor or blender to create a smoother texture. Overall, I will definitely be using this recipe again!