Trying Out A Turkish Recipe

By L. S.

On the weekend, I decided to cook some Turkish food. I asked my some of my Turkish friends to ask their parents for traditional Turkish recipes. We ended up making mercimek çorbası (lentil soup) and mercimek köftesi (lentil patties, though they called it vegetarian kebab). It was delicious! It took a bit more than an hour to make, but it was really worth it. Here is the recipe below, hope you enjoy the dishes as much as I did!

Disclaimer: I’m not sure coconut oil was in the original recipe, but we all really like it, so feel free to not use any.

Also, I was lucky because my friends had the spices already, but you can find these in most supermarkets or Turkish shops!

Mercimek çorbası: LENTIL SOUP

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup of green lentils
• 1 potato
• 1/4 of an onion
• 2 tbsp. of pul biber (Turkish pepper flakes)
• 1 tbsp. of tomato paste
• 3 tbsp. of mint (fresh and dried)
• 1 tbsp. cumin
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 1 cube of chicken stock

STEPS

• Boil the lentils until very soft, then mix in the chicken stock
• Boil the potato until cooked (in another pot)
• Add the lentils, the potato, the onion and the fresh mint to a blender and blend until you get a soup-like consistency
• Fry the butter, olive oil and tomato paste together along with the spices
• Mix the soup with the fried spices
• Add salt and pepper (taste before)

• Enjoy!

Mercimek köftesi: LENTIL KEBAB

INGREDIENTS:

• 1.5 cups of lentils
• 0.5 cups of bulgur
• 1 lemon
• 1 lime
• 6 tbsp. of fresh parsley
• 4 tbsp. of olive oil
• 2 onions (white or red)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 tbsp. of tomato paste
• 1 lettuce
• 4 tbsp. of nar eksisi (pomegranate extract)
• Coconut oil

STEPS

• Boil the lentils until semi soft and then add the bulgur in the boiling pot and let simmer until you get a semi firm consistency (in order to make little balls out of that paste)
• Cook the onions and garlic in olive oil and coconut oil and then add the tbsp. of tomato paste
• Mix the lentil paste with the cooked onions and garlic and add the nar eksisi and the balsamic vinegar to taste
• Add the parsley
• Add the juice of the lemon and lime 
• Add salt and pepper (taste before)
• Lay out the lettuce on a plate
• Roll the lentil mix in cylinders and place them on the plate of lettuce
• You eat this by taking one lettuce leaf and spreading the lentil cylinder and then eating the lettuce leaf
• Enjoy!