This popular Turkish lentil soup is named after a bride named Ezo, who was unhappy in her marriage and therefore prepared this recipe for her mother-in-law, to make her feel the same way. Despite the bad advertisement that this may suggest, I assure you that the soup is very tasty, as well as healthy and easy to prepare.
Ingredients:
1 cup of red lentils
1 large onion
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
1 red bell pepper
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
Enough vegetable broth to cover the lentils
The juice of half a lemon
Salt, pepper, paprika and extra virgin olive oil
Heat 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a pot, without letting it smoke. Cut the vegetables into small pieces and sauté them over moderate heat until the onion becomes transparent, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
Rinse the lentils and add them together with the tomato paste and paprika, covering everything with enough broth. Bring to a boil, cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Salt and blend until no lumps are left, and add the lemon juice.
Add fresh ground pepper when serving, and a few chopped mint or parsley leaves.
Tips and tricks:
- Discard the germ of the garlic and onion if they are very green, and also the outer layer of the onion. In case you use also fresh peppers, discard the seeds and inner veins.
- The recipe can also have burghoul, which I prefer to do without.
- This is a rich and nutritious recipe, but also simple and fast. Red lentils cook in just 10 minutes, while other types need up to 45 minutes.
- Depending on availability, many times I had to vary the recipe. I have prepared the sauce sometimes without pepper, other times using spring onion instead of onion, and I have even taken advantage of adding leek and carrot when I had leftovers in the fridge. This last option is especially useful to give more flavor if you don’t have broth to cover the lentils and therefore use only water. In all cases, I always had good results.
- It is also possible to replace tomato paste with pepper paste, or use a mixture of both.
- As it usually happens with legumes, salting the preparation at the beginning doesn’t allow the lentils to become tender, no matter how long you might prolong the cooking time. That’s why it’s advised to add the salt at the end.
- Not adding enough liquid will lead to a very thick soup that can’t be served as a spoon dish, but it would be possible to be eaten with a good bread.