Ingredients
3 tablespoons(TB) extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 TB sweet paprika
1 TB ground cumin
1 TB tomato or pepper paste
1 cup red lentils
2 TB uncooked rice or cracked wheat or steel cut oatmeal
5 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock (1 cup lentil to 5 cups liquid ratio)
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
Optional
Add saffron threads or 1 teaspoon turmeric along with lentils
Add lemon/lime juice or pomegranate molasses , and chopped fresh or dried mint leaves while serving
You can add croutons while serving as well
Melt 3 TB butter in a skillet, add Turkish ISOT pepper( or red pepper flakes, or chili peppers)
Directions
There are recipes use 1 to 3 cups ratio, which turns to a dip consistency even 1 to 4. I sometimes use 1 to 6, but start with 1 to 5.
I don's soak my lentils but soaking helps to digest easier. So sift through the lentils before soaking them to get rid of debris or pebbles.
In a large saucepan over medium add olive oil, once heated add onion then sauté until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. I usually close the lid and let it sweat in very low heat for 15 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add the tomato paste, paprika and cumin, then sauté for 1 minute. Add the lentils, rice, stock and salt, bring to a boil. Cover and cook until the lentils and rice are tender and broken down, about 30 minutes.
Taste and add salt, lime juice, pomegranate molasses, sumac if you prefer, or even apple cider vinegar.
This is optional too but try at least once, to serve, melt 3 TB butter in a small skillet, add peppers, and cook until butter start getting brown. Serve the soup with pepper oil drizzled over each serving. In this version i don't use croutons because I added rice for starch and creamy texture, however you can add them for crunch if you feel like it.
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