Turkish Red Lentil Soup (Mercimek Çorbasi)

YouTube doesn't know what to make of me.  Watching Spanish recipes led to other Mediterranean cuisines, and even Ramadan iftar spreads.  I can't pronounce this one, but thought I'd give it a shot for Purim.

What really intrigued me was the presentation in many photos.  I wasn't sure I could pull off the fancy drizzle until I saw it's just olive oil heated with paprika.  Easiest part of the dish.

I'm going with the Simply Lebanese version, with an assist from Days of Jay, and scaling it down to 4 servings.  The red pepper paste sounded intriguing, but I didn't want to upset my stomach and subbed an extra tablespoon of tomato paste.  You can absolutely make this as spicy as you want with Aleppo pepper or any other kind of chili flake.  I'm also not sure why a vegan-sounding recipe has chicken broth in it, so there will be other options listed.  I'm sure it tastes great and gives a wonderful mouth-feel, but it wasn't what I wanted that day.

You will notice an annoying trend of "one onion", "one carrot", and "one potato" if you go looking for variations of this soup.  I guessed, without weights or cups to go by.  Half pound for the potato sounded right, since it's there for thickening and not flavor.  Onion is a matter of personal taste, the same way people usually put in more than the recommended amount of garlic.  Also, whether you blend the soup fully or leave it a little chunky is up to you.  I went for smooth.  And one day, I'll get a new immersion blender so I don't have to duck and cover when I run the regular blender for a hot soup.

1 C red lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium carrot, peeled and large diced
1 small-ish potato, peeled and diced 1"
*2 Tb tomato paste (or 1 Tb each tomato and red pepper paste)
1/4 C olive oil, divided
1 tsp salt, or to taste
1-1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 quart chicken or vegetable broth, or water
2 tsp dried mint
2 tsp paprika, for the garnish
any optional red pepper flakes, chopped or whole chilis, etc

1.  In a soup pot, heat 2 Tb oil over medium heat and cook the onion until softened.

2.  Add diced carrot and potato and cook a few minutes, then add the garlic and tomato paste and cook until fragrant.

3.  Add lentils and broth and stir to combine.  Bring to a simmer and cook on low 20 minutes, until the lentils are done.  Remove from heat.

4.  Add in the cumin and white pepper.  Blend with an immersion blender, or in batches in a standard blender.  Stir in crumbled dried mint after blending.

5.  Return to the heat and bring back up to a simmer.  Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.  While that's happening, combine other 2 Tb oil and the paprika in a small pan and heat until uniform.  To make it spicy, add chili flakes or hot sauce to the oil.

6.  Serve the soup hot, garnished with a drizzle of the paprika oil and sides of lemon wedges.  Squeezing fresh lemon juice into it at serving brings a little acidic zing that enhances the flavors.

Difficulty rating  :)