← Nouns Cooking · Lebanese & Turkish

Ingredients

• 250 g Red lentils, rinsed
• 3 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 1 Carrot, diced
• 1 small potato, peeled and diced
• 1 tbsp Tomato purée (paste)
• 1½ tsp ground cumin
• 1.5 l vegetable stock or water
• Salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil (or butter), for the drizzle
• 1 tsp Pul biber (Aleppo-style pepper flakes)
• 1 Lemon, cut into wedges

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat and cook the onion, carrot and potato for 8 min until the onion is soft.
2. Stir in the tomato paste and cumin for 1 minute, then add the lentils and stock. Bring to the boil, skim off any foam, and simmer partly covered for 25 min until the lentils have collapsed and the vegetables are very soft.
3. Blend until smooth with a stick blender. Add a splash of hot water if it is thicker than you like (it thickens as it stands) and season with salt.
4. Just before serving, gently warm the drizzle oil with the pul biber in a small pan for 1 minute until it turns red. Do not let it smoke.
5. Ladle into bowls, swirl over the pepper oil and serve with lemon wedges to squeeze in and warm bread.

Tips

• Lemon is not optional: it lifts the whole bowl.
• Some stock cubes contain wheat or milk; check the label for gluten-free or vegan diets. Freezes well for 3 months.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Ozlem's Turkish Table Ozlem's Turkish Table Food52