55 Reviews of Turkish Red Lentil Soup

From: Crabzilla

On Nov 5, 2005

Oh Toni, slurp, slurp! The absolute simplicity of this lovely, aromatic soup is simply awesome! Here is what I did... I did the prep work (oh so minimal!) last night, and my DH and I had the soup, exactly as you posted, this afternoon, for lunch with some lightly toasted pita bread, Kalamata olives, and pepperocini (on the side). Simply fabulous! There were only two of us for lunch, so for my family dinner this evening, I decided to tweak the soup to make it a more substantial meal, standing on its own. OMG, heaven! I added about 1/2 pound of cubed butternut squash, more garlic, cumin, black pepper, two red bell peppers, a lot of HOT Hungarian paprika (to suit our warped spicy taste buds), some diced shallots, about 1/2 cup cilantro, and one entire medium red onion. I re-pureed all but about 3 cups, and then lightly re-heated. I then garnished it with a dollop of sour cream, a sprinkle of fresh cilantro, and served it with a simple light salad and crusty bread and butter. To die for! Heaven! Nobody in this family likes lentils, red bell pepper, or butternut squash, lol, period. They never knew what hit them! They ate this stuff up like there was no more tomorrow, not even knowing they were eating lentils, etc. This is such a keeper, such a fantastic Autumn soup. I think that I will serve this fantastic soup as one of my starters for our big Thanksgiving feast! Thank you so much for such a lovely, simple, scrumptious soup, as is...or dressed up!

From: -Sylvie-

On Oct 17, 2005

This is so simple to make, as well as healthy and delicious! I used one baking potato, so I probably had more than 1/2 cup. When I came to taste the soup just before pureeing I felt that there was a little something missing, even though the simple flavours were great. So I added just one clove of garlic and let it simmer for a further five minutes and I think that made the soup just right for me. Pureeing most of it makes it lovely and creamy, but there is just enough texture from the cup that didn't get pureed. Thanks for sharing, I will be making this often!

From: basya

On Nov 4, 2005

Very quick and delicious soup. After reading the reviews, I added two grated garlic cloves to the cooking soup. I used my blender stick in the pot to blend all but the cup of soup I'd removed, saving blender clean up. All of us who like red lentils loved the soup. the two who are still less than enthusiastic about red lentils dipped bread in the soup gingerly and ate their bread lightly flavored in soup . I served this with toasted pita and baked yams for a cold fall evening meal.

From: Carenem

On Jan 3, 2008

Really Good! Did add one clove of garlic and a small onion

From: jennifer in new jersey

On Jan 21, 2007

delicious, fast, easy and healthy. i made this unplanned today as when i read the recipe and saw the photo i decided to give it a try. i had to make two substitutions so i am not sure how that changed the finish product. i had no broth so i made my own with chicken boullion and no white potatoes so used sweet potatoes. the taste was outstanding. the process being so simple and quick was a plus. this soup tastes as good if not better than other lentil soups that i have made that took soooo much longer and much more ingredients. the taste was very smooth and flavorful. i will make this again for sure. thanks for sharing.

From: Ms*Bindy

On Oct 12, 2005

I liked the ease of making this soup. I looked at the very simple list of ingredients, and thought the soup would be lacking something. But it wasn't. Sometimes a whole bunch of seasonings hide the taste of the simple ingredients, and for this recipe, nothing more is needed than what is called for. I didn't even add any salt! I did have about twice as many potatoes, as that was just how large my potato was.

From: DonnaR

On May 10, 2007

Truly outstanding! So simple to make and healthy to boot. I don't know why I didn't rate this befor, because I have made it a number of times. This time, I couldn't find my printed copy and had to find it again and realized I hadn't reviewed it. I love the simplicity and it is wonderful t0 plop all ingredients into one pot and you are done. (This leaves time for some more complicated dishes.) Love the tecnique of blending to give the soup a smooth richness. I've also toyed with it using what I had on hand (once brown lentils)and sometimes spicing it up a tad as mentioned in earlier posts. Thanks much!

From: zelizabeth

On Oct 27, 2006

This was fantastic! I added a little carrot, didn't puree it at all, then added the lemon juice and some flat-leaf parsley when I served it. The lemon really is great in this. I wanted to photograph it, but I was on my second bowl before I remembered. Maybe next time. Thanks!

From: Chef #828896

On Apr 30, 2008

I found this soup to be a tad bland for my taste so I spruced it up with some garlic and extra onions (I used red onions too!). I also used extra potatoes so the soup was a bit chunkier for my husband. GREAT easy, delicious soup for a weekday meal!

From: Annacia

On Feb 24, 2009

Sometimes the simple and direct things taste the best. This soup is one of these things. I followed the recipe with the exception of the blending at the end (I like the chunky texture). This is very simple and direct, you reap a great reward for your minimal efforts. I will absolutely be making this again.