Calorie content of Turkish lentils. Chemical composition and nutritional value.

If you have never tried this popular national dish of this people, then you are missing out on a lot. Turkish lentil puree soup is very easy to prepare, and most importantly from products familiar to us all, but the cooking process itself is not at all familiar to us. It is completely cooked in the pan, right down to frying the onions and carrots. The technology for preparing this first dish is very easy, but the result exceeds all expectations. It turns out so tasty, even with water, that you will ask for more and more. This dish is a favorite among hotels and is prepared very often in every Turkish hotel. And those people who once tried this soup want to know its recipe and cook it in their kitchen at home. It is for such people that I am publishing this recipe!

Ingredients

- potatoes 3 pcs
- red lentils 400 g
- water 2 l
— carrots 1 pc.
- garlic 2 cloves
— large tomato 1 pc.
- vegetable oil 50 g
- dried mint 1 teaspoon
— lemon 1 pc.
- dried sumac for serving

Preparation

To prepare Turkish red lentil soup, you need a set of products that can be bought in Russia, and we can prepare it ourselves in our kitchen. I give these proportions to those who have a large family or you cook on Sundays, then put it in the refrigerator and eat during the week. But this soup is eaten within two days at most because it turns out very tasty. They begin to prepare Mercimek Chorbasi (as this soup is called in Turkish) by preparing the ingredients. Namely, you need to peel potatoes and carrots, peel onions and garlic. Then the peeled onion should be cut into quarter rings rather thinly, and the carrots should be grated on a coarse grater.

Then heat a frying pan with vegetable oil, place the prepared onions and carrots in it, and begin to fry the vegetables in oil, stirring them occasionally. The onions and carrots also need to be a little salted, peppered and dried mint added. This aromatic herb is an essential component of merjimek soup. It wouldn't taste as good without it! Then you need to add chopped garlic to the fried vegetables. You can simply cut it with a knife and not necessarily finely, because... Later we will puree the lean lentil soup with vegetables in a blender. Next, you need to add potatoes, cut into small cubes, to the pan in which the vegetables are fried.

When you mix the chopped potatoes with carrots and onions, you need to add chopped large tomatoes to the pan with these ingredients. It doesn’t matter how exactly you cut the tomato, since it will still be crushed into puree along with other vegetables. But it is important to remove the skin from it first. This can be done by holding the tomato in boiling water and making cuts on it in advance. And then transfer it to cold water and remove the skin. But when there is no such time and you are in a hurry, just cut the skin off the tomato like an apple. And it’s quick and convenient if you have a sharp and good vegetable knife. To do this, you need to cut the tomato into quarters on a wooden kitchen board, place a piece of tomato with the skin facing the board, and then carefully run a knife along the bottom of the peel.

After all the ingredients of the Turkish lentil puree soup are sufficiently fried, you need to add salt and sprinkle with ground black pepper to your taste. Next, you need to take the red lentils and rinse them thoroughly in running water until the water flows out from under them clear. And then you need to put it in a saucepan with all the other ingredients of the soup, mix and fill everything with water. You can regulate the amount of water yourself. If you want to prepare thick merjimek, then you do not need to add much water. You just need the water to cover all the ingredients by 2 cm. And if you like a more liquid version, then add more water. You can also use vegetable broth instead of water.

In 15 minutes, the lentil puree soup according to the Turkish recipe will be ready. All you have to do is puree it using a blender. Vegetables and lentils cook so quickly because they were chopped quite finely. Plus, if you rinse the lentils in warm water rather than cold, they will cook faster. In principle, red lentils are the ones that cook faster than all other varieties. When the lentils and vegetables are pureed, you need to let the Turkish Mercimek lentil soup boil, then turn off the heat, remove from the stove, cover and let it brew and soak in all the flavors for about 5-10 minutes.

Red lentil puree soup is served hot in portioned bowls, Turkish style, along with a slice of lemon. When serving, Turkish lentil puree soup is also decorated with aromatic red oil. It can be either vegetable oil or butter. But if you are preparing lean creamy lentil soup, then you can use vegetable or olive oil. You need to take about 20 g of this oil and pour it into a frying pan that is on fire. Add ground dried paprika to the oil, mix with the oil and fry for 2 minutes. If you are a fan of spicy dishes, then you need to add dried hot red chili pepper to the paprika. This beautiful, hot, aromatic, fried, red oil with paprika and hot pepper decorates the Turkish Mercimek soup.

When I was in a Turkish cafe, there, on the table, along with pepper and salt, was a third jar of sumac seasoning. In Turkey and the Middle East, this seasoning is very often used and added to vegetable, fish and meat dishes. It adds such acidity to dishes that it sometimes acts as a substitute for lemon. And it looks very beautiful - it has a bright, rich burgundy color. I decided to garnish the Turkish lentil cream soup with sumac seasoning. And since I didn’t fry the oil with paprika, I decided to put a piece of butter in a plate of hot lentil puree soup. If you don’t have enough sourness from the burgundy sumac seasoning, you can add more juice from a lemon wedge to this soup.

Tags: potatoes, lemon, onions, oil, carrots, tomatoes, soup, garlic

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Features of cooking

A very popular dish among different peoples of the world, Turkish lentils suggest that they should be in a puree state. The dish is served with herbs and lemon slices. Spices and salt are usually added at the beginning of cooking. It is customary to add one glass of cereal to two glasses of water. Traditionally, red lentils are used to make the soup. Compared to green, it has a less bright taste, but is better absorbed by the body. Turkish is usually seasoned with a variety of spices. Oregano, basil, cumin, curry, paprika are suitable.

Ingredients for 8 servings

For the soup:
Red lentils 300 gr
Tomatoes (or 3 tbsp tomato paste) 2 pcs.
Butter 100 gr
Vegetable oil (olive oil is possible) 2 tablespoons. l.
Dry oregano to taste
Basil (dry) to taste
Mint (dried) to taste
Lemons (or lime) 1 pc.
Ground black pepper to taste
Salt to taste
Water 1.5 l
For croutons:
Bread (for toast) 200 gr
Hard cheese 150 gr
Garlic 4 cloves.
Vegetable oil (optional) 2 tbsp. l.

Which lentils to choose

It is quite difficult to find red lentils in Russian stores. It comes in two types: large grains of almost brown color and small grains of an orange hue. The latter makes a very tasty lentil soup. The Turkish recipe calls for a puree-like dish, so using “orange” lentils will come in handy. It is small, sold peeled and, accordingly, boils faster. You can also use the “brown” variety of red lentils, but they will take longer to cook. To speed up the process, it is better to soak it before cooking.

Cooking method

First of all, you need to finely chop the onion.
Then you should grate the tomato so that the peel does not get into the tomato puree.
After this, you need to melt the butter in a separate pan and lightly fry the onion in it until transparent.
Now you need to add the tomato mass to the container, mix all the ingredients thoroughly and simmer with the lid closed for about five minutes.
Then you need to wash the lentils and put them in a saucepan with the rest of the ingredients. Next, add water to the cereal and cook over high heat until it boils. After this, the cooking temperature must be reduced. The lentils must be cooked until fully cooked, stirring from time to time with a spoon. Cooking time: 15-20 minutes. At the very end of cooking you need to add salt. If you do this earlier, the process will take longer, since the presence of salt will not allow the grains to boil quickly.
Next, the pan must be removed from the plates. After this, the soup should be ground in a blender. The dish should have a puree-like consistency. If it turns out too thick, you need to add more water to it. Then put on the fire and bring to a boil again.

Turkish lentil soup is ready! Each time you reheat it, stir it thoroughly so that it heats evenly and does not burn. The dish retains its taste for several days and will surely appeal to all members of your family.

Armenian lentil soup for real men

Thick and rich, and most importantly, satisfying vospiapur is ideal for lunch or dinner. The delicious soup includes beef (500 g), prunes (up to 7 pieces) and walnuts (½ cup of kernels). The Armenian treat is given spiciness with the help of adjika (1 tbsp.), as well as chopped garlic (2-3 cloves).

The preparation of thick soup is carried out in 4 stages:

The broth is being prepared. The beef is cooked until tender, constantly skimming off the foam. Remove from the broth to cut into pieces. The broth is filtered to obtain a transparent composition, and again sent to the fire. Add chopped potatoes and lentils.
Fry vegetables. The onion is crushed and sautéed together with garlic in butter. Take 2-3 tbsp. l. dairy product to obtain a rich taste.
Prepare the fruit. The nut kernels are fried in a frying pan until they are dry and begin to emit a pleasant aroma. Prunes are cut into slices.
Combine all prepared ingredients except meat. Adjika and other spices are added along with them.

In the European interpretation of this oriental dish, beef is often replaced with chicken, using only breast. Instead of prunes, dried apricots are often used, and sometimes raisins are added. In rare cases, beans are cooked rather than lentils. The Armenian vospiapur is served in an unusual way.

Pieces of meat are laid out in portioned plates, and then a rich broth is poured. There is also a Lenten version of preparing the Armenian dish.

The soup is usually decorated with fresh herbs. In addition, 5 minutes before readiness, it is practiced to add freshly squeezed lemon juice. Such sourness carries its message in an oriental treat.

Preparation

In Turkish, it involves step-by-step completion of the following actions:

First, finely chop the carrots and onions.
After this, you need to melt the butter in a saucepan.
Next, you need to add vegetables to a container with oil and fry them until soft for five minutes.
Then you should rinse the lentils several times. This must be done until the water becomes clear.
After this, the cereal must be combined with carrots and onions.
Now all the ingredients should be filled with cold water.
Next, you need to cook the soup over moderate heat with the lid loosely closed.
When the lentils become soft, you need to salt the dish, add red pepper and dried mint to it. Then the soup should be stirred and cooked for another minute.
Now you need to grind the lentil soup in a blender. To avoid unpleasant consequences, it is better to cool the dish a little before processing.

After this, you can pour the lentil soup into bowls. The Turkish recipe allows for the addition of crackers and lemon juice to the dish.

Lentil soup recipe for Lent

A special place in this recipe is given to different varieties of pepper, as well as celery and thyme. Such a spicy dish, of course, is not suitable for the daily menu. Still, this lean Leshta soup will add new colors to your everyday diet. To prepare a healthy treat, take 150 g of brown or green varieties of lentils. The seeds are soaked for 2-3 hours in cold water.

Next, cut into small cubes:

leek;
carrot;
petiole celery (2 pcs.);
bell pepper;
garlic (5 cloves).

The first 3 items from the list are sautéed in vegetable oil over medium heat for 5 minutes. After this, the remaining ingredients are added. The contents are fried for about 2 minutes. Add 1 tbsp. l. tomato paste or ketchup. Add ½ teaspoon of sugar. After 2 min. pour in 200 ml of water and simmer it all for another two minutes. Then pour in the lentils and add the volume of broth to 1 liter.

This lean soup is prepared in a slow cooker. After the frying process, set the “Stewing” mode for 25-30 minutes.

5 minutes before readiness, the vegetable broth is seasoned with a whole set of spices.

Typically, it consists of 2 types of pepper: cayenne and pink. It also includes bay leaf and dry thyme. At the end the soup is seasoned with salt. The final touch is fragrant fresh herbs.

Among other things, lentils are sometimes prepared using yogurt or milk whipped with yolks. Mushrooms or eggplants are often added to the soup. As you can see, this type of legume is surprisingly attractive to many well-known products.

How to serve

Turkish lentil soup is served very hot in deep broth cups or bowls. Before eating it, you need to sprinkle it with flakes and add a little lemon juice. Top the soup with green salad and peeled tomato slices. The dish must be sprinkled with fragrant fresh parsley. And, of course, you can’t do without fresh white bread with a delicious crispy crust.

It should be noted that very sweet onions grow in Turkey. Therefore, the unusual taste of the dish may surprise an inexperienced person. If you are preparing soup on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, you need to monitor the amount of this product in the food. After all, in Turkey there is a saying: “The more onions you put, the sweeter the food will be.”

Unfortunately, for the residents of our country, lentil soup is exotic. The Turkish recipe will help you create a dish with the least amount of effort, time and money. And you will end up with a tasty, easy-to-prepare and very healthy dish. Bon appetit!

Turkish red lentil soup has a very pleasant refreshing taste thanks to mint and lemon. There are several options for preparing it. Sometimes it is prepared with potatoes, onions and carrots. But the simplest option of lentils, tomato, mint, lemon and seasonings, personally, this option, in my opinion, is the most successful.

Prepare the necessary products.

Rinse the lentils well.

Pour cold water over the lentils and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam.

Reduce heat to low and cook lentils for 30-40 minutes.

Pour olive oil into a small saucepan and place on heat. Add flour and fry a little. Stir all the time.

Add tomato paste and stir well.

Pour some water from the soup into the flour and tomato, stir and add seasonings. Boil for 2-3 minutes.

Add a little more water to the dressing, stir and pour it into the soup. Also add fresh or dried mint to the soup. Salt the soup to taste. Boil everything for 2-3 minutes.

Rub the finished soup through a sieve. A blender produces excessive foam, so a sieve is preferable.

Ladle the soup into bowls. Squeeze the juice of ¼ lemon into each plate and add a mint leaf. Delicious, refreshing red lentil soup is ready!

Bon appetit!

Pea or bean soup is a frequent guest on our table. This is a hearty and tasty dish that has a warming effect, is budget-friendly, rich in flavors, aromas and has a rather appetizing appearance.

It turns out that you can cook it from a somewhat unusual, but no less healthy and tasty product - lentils.

These beans have long been freely sold in our stores, but the statistics on their sales are quite depressing.

Like everything new, they cause fear and a reluctance to mess up in the culinary field.

We invite you to verify from your own experience that Turkish red lentil soup is no more difficult to cook than its pea or bean counterpart, and even faster.

Why should you buy?

Each small lentil bean is an invaluable storehouse of protein that can replace bread, cereals and even meat. It also contains fiber, and as you may have guessed, it takes part in normalizing the activity of the entire digestive tract. As a result: there is no constipation, no bowel disorders, and bowel movements occur with enviable regularity and without problems.

Red lentils, as well as any of their analogues of a different color, have a rich vitamin and mineral composition.

It includes:

a nicotinic acid;
iron and phosphorus;
almost all vitamins belonging to group B;
potassium and calcium.

Lentil puree soup, made according to Turkish or personal recipe, will be an excellent first course for diabetics. These beans have a very low glycemic index, which normalizes blood sugar levels. Therefore, it will be extremely useful to eat this dish in the morning in order to feel good throughout the day.

Turkish soup made from lentils and bulgur can cause increased gas formation and bloating. If this happens to you, temporarily exclude the established recipe from your menu and try introducing it a little later.

How to choose the right product?

There is one subtlety in cooking: you need to very carefully select the main ingredient, focusing on its color and ability to change the taste of the final dish.

So:

Green beans add a nutty flavor;
Dark green lentils take a long time to cook, but are unusually tender when cooked;
The red product is good for Indian dishes; during cooking it changes color to light yellow or even orange;
Yellow lentils can be cooked in just 10 minutes: they cook well, making the soup rich and thick;
Black beans are extremely unpopular in our cuisine: they are small and do not cook well.

“Merjimek Chorbasy”: we are not afraid, but we are preparing!

The original recipe for lentil soup, cooked in Turkish style, assumes the presence of completely domestic products:

100 g red beans;
liters of water;
100 ml olive oil;
50 g white onion;
50 g carrots;
30 g lemon;
fresh or dried mint;
salt, red chili pepper, and other familiar, but aromatic and hot spices.

Vegetables are chopped or grated on a fine grater, then fried in olive oil until the carrots darken;
Beans, sauteed vegetables and water are placed in a cooking container, brought to a boil, and cooked over low heat for 10 minutes;
Once everything is ready, the dish is flavored with mint and spices, pureed with an immersion blender and brought to a boil again;
Before serving, add a slice of lemon or just lemon juice to each plate.

As you understand, the dish is completely vegetarian, but rich in protein of plant origin, very satisfying and appetizing.

According to personal preferences, the recipe can be distorted, for example, cook the soup in chicken, beef or other broth, add potatoes, herbs, etc. to it.

Turkish bean soup with mushrooms

Continuing the vegetarian theme, we offer you an option on how to prepare lentil soup with mushrooms in Turkish.

For it you will need:

200 g Mistral beans;
liter of water;
100 g olive oil;
70 g onions;
100 g carrots;
200 g champignons;
herbs, spices, salt and baguette for croutons (optional)

The cooking recipe looks like this:

Vegetables are peeled, grated or finely chopped. Then they are placed in a hot frying pan, where there is already heated oil, and simmered over low heat;
Mushrooms are cut into thin slices. They should be added to the frying only after the onions become caramelized and the carrots are soft. Everything should be simmered until the liquid emerging from the mushrooms has completely evaporated;
The beans are thoroughly washed, together with the frying, they are placed in a thick-walled cooking container, filled with water, and cooked for 10-15 minutes from the moment of boiling;
As soon as the mixture has “smelled” to a thickness, it must be salted, seasoned with spices and pureed with a submersible blender. Then the soup is brought to a boil again;
While everything is cooking, you can cut the baguette into slices, drizzle with olive oil, season with herbs and spices, and then dry a little in the oven.

Hot puree soup is poured into plates, decorated with herbs and slices of fried mushrooms, previously pulled out of the roast.

Finally, I would like to give one piece of practical advice: if you are preparing bean or bulgur soup for the first time in your life, be sure to wash the product until crystal clear water drains from it.

For your time spent, you will be rewarded with a first course with a very bright and memorable taste.

The real winter frosts have arrived. Now, when returning home, I want to hide in a warm blanket and eat something hot. So today I suggest making a warming Turkish lentil soup

. It is very popular in its homeland, where not a single meal is complete without such soup, and once you try it, you will immediately understand why.

How to prepare Turkish lentil soup:

Step 1: prepare the lentils.

Pour the lentils into a sieve and rinse thoroughly. There is no need to soak it. Wait until excess water drains from the cereal, then pour it into a saucepan and add 1 liter
of water.
Place the pan over medium heat and bring to a boil. As soon as the lentils boil, remove the foam from the surface of the water, reduce the heat, pour in another 200 milliliters
of water and leave everything to cook
for 10 minutes
.

Step 2: prepare the vegetables.

While the lentils are cooking, prepare the vegetables. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan and melt the butter in it. Stir.

Peel the onion, cut into small cubes and fry in a mixture of oils for 1-2 minutes

, stirring all the time.
Peel the carrots, rinse and chop using a medium grater. Add the grated carrots to the onions, stir and simmer for 3-4 minutes
until the vegetables soften.
Without removing the frying pan from the heat, mix the stewed vegetables with wheat flour and continue frying for another 3-4 minutes
.

Step 3: Cook Turkish lentil soup.

Place the flour-fried carrots and onions into the pan with the lentils and stir well. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste. You can add less pepper than indicated in the list of ingredients. Stir the soup again and remove it from the heat.

Step 4: Whisk the Turkish Lentil Soup.

Add the heavy cream to the soup pot, then use an immersion blender to blend until smooth. But be careful, because the contents of the pan are very hot, don’t get burned!

Lentil soup recipe in Moroccan traditions

African peoples prefer to start the day with a very hearty breakfast.
In addition, the hot climate greatly exhausts the inhabitants of the south, and the lack of water leads them to despair. The unsurpassed Harera soup fulfills all Moroccan desires: to be satisfied and quench your thirst. The traditional dish is prepared with meat (200 g), but not pork. The process of preparing Muslim lentil soup includes the following steps:

chickpeas (1 handful) are peeled and soaked for 8 hours;
boil green lentils (2/3 cup) until half cooked;
puree tomato pulp (4 pcs.), celery stalks (3 pcs.), onion, parsley and cilantro into a puree using a blender;
chicken meat is cut into portions, chickpeas are added to it, the whole thing is filled with vegetable sauce and 1.5 liters of water;
cover with a lid and simmer for 40 minutes;
a few minutes before the chickpeas are ready, add boiled lentils, rice (1/2 cup), tomato puree (3-4 tbsp);
Boil the contents for 5 minutes and then season with paprika, turmeric and sliced bell pepper.

During fasting, Moroccan soup is prepared without meat broth. However, it turns out just as tasty and aromatic.

To give the green lentil soup the required thickness, make a viscous mixture separately. A tablespoon of flour is diluted with water, stirring thoroughly so that there are no lumps. Then the resulting slurry is poured into vegetable sauce or tomato puree. In Morocco, Harera soup is prepared with an egg, which is beaten and then added in a thin stream and in a circular motion to the hot dish. In consistency and yellow-red hue, the African treat resembles Ukrainian borscht. Therefore, from time to time it is served with sour cream and herbs.