Turkish Red Lentil 'Bride' Soup

44 Ratings
  • 5 Rating Star 31
  • 4 Rating Star 10
  • 3 Rating Star 3
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A wonderful and easy soup. Traditional Turkish soup. Garnish with lemon slices and fresh mint leaves.

By Genevia Jensen
prep:
10 mins
cook:
1 hr 15 mins
total:
1 hr 25 mins
Servings:
4
Max Servings:
4
Nutrition Info
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Ingredients

Directions

  • Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Cook the onions in the hot butter until they are golden brown, about 15 minutes.

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  • Stir the paprika, lentils, and bulgur into the onions and coat with the butter.

  • Add the tomato paste, vegetable stock, and cayenne pepper; bring to a boil and cook until soft and creamy, about 1 hour.

  • Crumble the dried mint leaves into the soup; stir the soup and remove from heat.

  • Ladle into bowls and garnish with lemon slices and fresh mint to serve.

Tip

Aluminum foil helps keep food moist, ensures it cooks evenly, keeps leftovers fresh, and makes clean-up easy.

Nutrition Facts

Per Serving:
442.08 calories; 18.65 g protein; 64.24 g carbohydrates; 15.15 g dietary-fiber; 12.9 g sugars; 14 g fat; 7.41 g saturated-fat; 30.5 mg cholesterol; 2853.44 IU vitamin-a-iu; 2.33 mg niacin-equivalents; 0.26 mg vitamin-b6; 21.06 mg vitamin-c; 31.49 mcg folate; 113.11 mg calcium; 4.8 mg iron; 48.91 mg magnesium; 776.74 mg potassium; 1080.12 mg sodium; 0.11 mg thiamin; 125.98 calories-from-fat; 56 percent-of-calories-from-carbs; 27 percent-of-calories-from-fat; 16 percent-of-calories-from-protein; 14 percent-of-calories-from-sat-fat

Reviews (33)

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Most helpful positive review

Cheerios
12/28/2013
As a cook who likes to eat a lot of vegetarian recipes for my main course meal this soup is a very good source of vegetable protein with red lentils that is so easy to make and rewards you with a very delicious bowl of soup with the lemon slices added for a garnish that gives the soup nice tang. The one change that I made was to add oat bran instead of bulgur that did not seem to make a big difference to the outcome of this soup. I would certainly recommend this soup to others who are looking for an easy soup to make that is very nutritious for you.
Helpful
(23)

Most helpful critical review

ConkyJoe
03/02/2013
Okay. See Notes for customizing recipe.
Helpful
(6)
44 Ratings
  • 5 Rating Star 31
  • 4 Rating Star 10
  • 3 Rating Star 3
Cheerios
12/28/2013
As a cook who likes to eat a lot of vegetarian recipes for my main course meal this soup is a very good source of vegetable protein with red lentils that is so easy to make and rewards you with a very delicious bowl of soup with the lemon slices added for a garnish that gives the soup nice tang. The one change that I made was to add oat bran instead of bulgur that did not seem to make a big difference to the outcome of this soup. I would certainly recommend this soup to others who are looking for an easy soup to make that is very nutritious for you.
Helpful
(23)
Tracey Ferrari Posner
08/29/2012
Aw man this soup rocks! It takes me back to when I lived in Turkey from 1980-1983. I can't believe that I finally found a recipe for the soup I used to love so much! Thank you! This one is definitely a keeper:-)
Helpful
(16)
Rianna
02/07/2013
I made this soup for a Turkish friend and she agrees that it s very close to authentic and delicious. My only suggestion is to keep the lid on the pot as the lentils and bulgur absorb a lot of the liquid. I like heat so I doubled the cayenne.
Helpful
(15)
Holiday Baker
01/03/2014
It's not that this soup is amazing it's just that I keep trying lentil soups and this seems to be the only one that is all about the lentils and is not dominated by other flavors or spices. It is easy to make too. All the ingredients fit right in a pan I have with 3" sides and the lid worked great to simmer it. I used 2 level tblsp of low-sodium broth paste to the 8 cups of water. I figured I could add sea salt at the end if it needed more. I am not too familiar with bulgar and it tasted a lot to me like barley. I liked the addition of the lemon flavor. I just used a little squeezed lemon juice. TY
Helpful
(6)
ConkyJoe
03/02/2013
Okay. See Notes for customizing recipe.
Helpful
(6)
sharon
03/25/2014
Wow! This soup is amazing! I subsituted 1/2 cup of rice for the bulgar and added 2 carrots and 4 celery stalks to the onions. It was so delicious I already forwarded the recipe to my brother and sister as we have a middle eastern dad that use to cook for us all the time. An instant favorite that I will make many more times.
Helpful
(4)
tigeratty
03/19/2013
This is a tasty filling easy to make soup. It is good with chicken broth or vegetable broth. It tastes best the next day (or the day after) when it takes on a creamy consistency like dal.
Helpful
(3)
UmSulieman
02/25/2013
Lovely soup! I cooked it in the pressure cooker and cut cooking time in half:)
Helpful
(2)
springlering
01/16/2013
This sounded intriguing and I'm so glad we tried it. Quick & easy inexpensive and boy was it good! It was very filling and the mint and lemon "made" the dish. I used half broth and half water to cut down on salt and it tasted wonderful. Am looking forward to the leftovers.
Helpful
(1)
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