Things were quiet here on the blog, we’ve been to Germany for Christmas and although I planned to post from there, it was impossible with so much family and festivities around. And I don’t know where the January went – once back in India our son refused to return to Kindergarten or speak any other language than German. Switching between India and Germany is not always easy and it felt difficult to pick up blogging again.
While in Germany I also met my best friend. When we spoke about my blog she suggested I should post a red lentil soup recipe. The dick I am, I replied something like “what a stupid idea, there are already thousands of lentil soup recipes online”. But then that’s pretty much the general problem with food blogging these days – who really needs more recipes ?
But best friends do normally know best, because actually I DO NEED A LENTIL SOUP RECIPE ON MY BLOG. Turkish red lentil soup or mercimek corbasi is not just any soup, for us it was the food of our student days.
L. and me met while studying photography in Bielefeld, a small town with a sizeable Turkish population and very good Turkish restaurants. Turkish food in Germany is cheap (too cheap in my opinion) and you could eat a big bowl of lentil soup for only 3 Euros. Black tea was always free and nobody minded if you sat for long without ordering more. So we spend many hours with lentil soup and tiny glasses of cay, discussing life and dreams.
In retrospect this was probably one of the most enjoyable times of my life. Old enough to do what you want, young enough to feel limitless, surrounded by good friends and studying something you really enjoy.
Nowadays life feels less carefree, friends are scattered all around, but at least I learned how to make a really good red lentil soup myself.
Red Lentil Soup
For 3 - 4 people
Ingredients
- 1 Onion
- 1 Carrot
- 1 Potato
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 200 grams red lentils, washed
- 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon tomato paste
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika powder
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons salt
For serving:
- Red chilli flakes (ideally turkish pul biber)
- Lemon wedges
- Bread
Instructions
Peel the onion, potato, garlic & carrot and roughly chop them. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a pot and saute the vegetables for 2 minutes without browning them. Add the lentils, thyme, 600 ml of water and boil for 20 - 25 minutes till everything is very soft.
Puree with an immersion blender. The soup should be smooth but not too thick.
Melt he second tablespoon of butter in a small pan and fry the paprika powder and tomato paste for a minute. Add into the soup. Taste and season with salt and Worcestershire sauce.
Serve with lemon wedges, chilli flakes and some nice white bread.