Mercimek Çorbası — Turkish Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients

• 1½ cups red lentils, rinsed
• 1 onion + 1 carrot, diced
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp cumin + ½ tsp paprika
• 6 cups stock
• 3 tbsp butter + 1 tsp aleppo pepper (the finishing rain)
• Lemon wedges — mandatory
• Bread

Method

1. Soften the onion and carrot in a little butter; fry the tomato paste 2 minutes until dark.
2. Add the lentils, cumin, paprika, and stock. Simmer 20 minutes until the lentils dissolve.
3. Blend smooth — mercimek should pour like silk; add water to loosen if needed. Season well.
4. Make the finish: melt the remaining butter until foaming, add the aleppo pepper off-heat — it blooms brick red.
5. Ladle, drizzle the chili butter in swirls, and squeeze lemon over at the table. Served in every Turkish lokanta from dawn onward; the lemon squeeze is not optional, it's the ignition.