Ezogelin Soup ~ Turkish Red Lentil Soup

 
This red lentil soup happens to be one of the traditional and common soups in Turkish cuisine and goes by the name Ezogelin soup. The origin of the soup is attributed to Ezo, a legendary beauty and an unhappy bride from Gaziantep in the Southeastern Turkey region, while the word 'gelin' means bride in Turkish. This soup is supposedly one of her favorite dishes and she lovingly used to cook it for her family. Irrespective of whether the Ezo story is true or not, this is one simple, home style dish that everyone in the family going to love. I served this delicious and hearty soup with some bread croutons.

Ingredients: (2 servings)
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 small tomato, finely chopped
About 6 cups vegetable stock / water
1/4 cup red lentils (Masoor Dal)
2 Tbsp. rice (I used brown rice.)
2 tbsp. fine bulgur
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp Crushed red pepper flakes 
Salt &  pepper to taste
1 tsp dried mint
Lemon wedges to serve

Method:
* Heat oil in a medium sized pot, preferably a non stick one. Add onion and fry until it softens. Next add garlic and cook for about a couple of minutes. Then add tomatoes and cook until it turns mushy. Ad tomato paste and saute for few seconds.
* Now add about 3 cups of vegetable stock / water, lentils, rice and bulgur and cook on low medium flame until rice and lentils are cooked well, stirring intermittently. The liquid tends to get absorbed by the grains while cooking and the grains may stick to the bottom of the pan and burn if attention is not paid. Keep adding extra liquid as needed. (I added about 3 cups more.)
* Add mint and seasonings to the pot. Mix well, taste and adjust the seasonings if needed. Cook until the soup reaches a creamy consistency or coarsely puree in a blender. It took me around 30 minutes to cook the lentils and grains.
* Divide the mixture in two soup bowls and serve with lemon wedges.

This goes to BM #48 for 'Arabian Cuisine' under "1 Cuisine - 3 Dishes" theme. Check here to see what my fellow marathoners are cooking during Blogging Marathon #48.

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