Red lentil ciorba warm, creamy and delicious. Turkish soap operas that are all the rage on TV take us into the landscapes, customs and traditions of those countries that we are beginning to love. And so little by little we also get to know many Turkish recipes that we previously had no idea existed. I already told you how I prepared the Turkish borek with spinach and feta and also the borek with meat. Today I want to tell you how I prepared a very tasty Turkish red lentil soup. A simple and perfect recipe for these cold and gloomy days, a warm comfort for body and soul. For the lentils I used red split lentils which cook quickly and give you a delicious orange cream. I preferred to blend only half of my lentil cream at the end because I like to still find a few pieces in my mouth, but you can choose to blend it completely or not at all. Let’s run to the kitchen and prepare a tasty Turkish Ciorba together.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Budget-friendly
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Cooking time: 40 Minutes
- Portions: 4 Servings
- Cuisine: Turkish
- Energy 242.01 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 41.17 (g) of which sugars 1.50 (g)
- Proteins 13.16 (g)
- Fat 3.59 (g) of which saturated 0.55 (g)of which unsaturated 0.91 (g)
- Fibers 6.90 (g)
- Sodium 192.21 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 200 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for the Red Lentil Soup
- 3/4 cup red split lentils
- 1 medium potato
- 1 carrot
- 1/3 stalk celery
- 1 white onion (small)
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 hot chili pepper
- 3 tbsp tomato purée (passata)
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- to taste salt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 sprig mint (or marjoram)
What you need
- Immersion blender
How to prepare the Lentil Ciorba
Clean the celery, onion and carrot. Dice them all into small cubes. Peel the potato, wash it and dice it into small cubes. Pour 3-4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil into a saucepan. Add the diced vegetables, the potatoes, the chopped chili and the sweet paprika. Let everything sauté over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon.
Add the red lentils to the pan and mix well. Let them infuse for 2-3 minutes. Pour in the vegetable broth or the same amount of water, the tomato purée and the cumin, stir, cover with a lid and let the lentil soup cook for 35-40 minutes over low heat. Stir from time to time and if it becomes too dry add more broth or water.
At the end of cooking season with salt and add a tablespoon of lemon juice. I blended about half of the soup with an immersion blender, but you can blend it completely or not at all and enjoy it as is. Finally add a sprig of mint; I don’t like mint so I substituted it with a sprig of marjoram. Serve the traditional Turkish Ciorba with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
See you tomorrow with a new recipe, hugs, Loredana
Loredana’s Tips
If you prefer you can skip adding the lemon juice
If you have leftover soup store it in a container in the fridge for 1-2 days. Just reheat for a few minutes adding a few tablespoons of broth or water
Don’t miss the recipe for Fennel Velouté
