Mercimek Corbasi, Turkish Red Lentil Soup
Mercimek corbasi is the soup of Turkey, on every lokanta steam table and every home stove, so plain and so good that it needs almost nothing. Red lentils cook down to a puree in twenty minutes, and a cubed potato blended in with them gives the bowl its velvet body, no dairy required. What marks it as Turkish rather than just another lentil soup is the finish: dried mint and Aleppo pepper warmed in a dry pan and stirred through at the end, and a wedge of lemon squeezed in at the table. That squeeze does the work salt would, which is why the pot itself carries none. It is about as cheap and filling as a bowl of food gets.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Red lentils, rinsed
- 1 whole Yellow onions, chopped
- 1 whole Carrots, chopped
- 1 whole Potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 2 cloves Garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp Tomato paste
- 1 tsp Cumin seed, ground
- 2 tsp Dried mint
- 1 tsp Aleppo pepper
- 1 whole Lemons, cut into wedges to serve
- 1/2 tsp Black peppercorns, freshly ground
Method
- Sweat the onion and carrot in 0.25 cup (60 ml) water in a pot over medium heat until soft, about 8 minutes, then stir in the garlic, tomato paste, and ground cumin and cook for 2 minutes. Toasting the paste and cumin against the hot pan wakes them up and gives the soup its warm, savory base without oil.
- Add the rinsed red lentils, the cubed potato, and 5 cups (1.2 liters) water. Bring to a boil, skim off any foam, then simmer partly covered until the lentils have completely fallen apart and the potato is soft, about 20 minutes. Red lentils and potato both dissolve as they cook, which is what gives this soup its body with no cream and no flour.
- Blend the soup until glass-smooth, then return it to low heat and thin it with a little hot water if it is thicker than pourable cream. The silk of a proper mercimek corbasi comes entirely from blending, so take it all the way smooth.
- In a small dry pan, warm the dried mint and Aleppo pepper for about 30 seconds, just until fragrant, then stir most of it into the soup and save a little to float on top. Blooming the mint and pepper in a dry pan is the classic Turkish finish, and it is where a plain lentil soup becomes this one.
- Serve hot with black pepper and a wedge of lemon at each bowl. A hard squeeze of lemon at the table is not a garnish here, it is the seasoning, lifting the whole bowl in place of salt.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 230 calories, 12 g protein, 8 g fiber, 60 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
