Turkish Red Lentil Soup (Mercimek Çorbası)

Ingredients

• 1 cup red lentils, rinsed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 small potato, diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp dried mint
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 cups water
• 1 tbsp butter (or olive oil)
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• Lemon wedges

Method

1. Soften the onion and carrot in the olive oil. Stir in the tomato paste and cumin.
2. Add the lentils, potato, water and salt. Simmer for 25 minutes and blend until smooth.
3. Melt the butter in a small pan, add the paprika and mint and let it sizzle for 20 seconds.
4. Pour the red butter over the soup and serve with lemon.

Gluten-free check: Use olive oil instead of butter to make it dairy-free. We use water and vegetables for flavour. If you add a stock cube or stock powder, use one that is certified gluten-free – most standard cubes contain wheat.