Google+

dani california cooks

homegrown and homemade in CA

Turkish Lentil Soup (vegan, gluten free)

by 34 Comments

Change up your typical lentil soup by pureeing it and serving with a lemon wedge - Turkish style! It’s creamy, comforting, and vegan and gluten free to boot.

If you’ve been following along on DCC for a while, you’ll know that my boyfriend Nate took a year off from work and traveled the world - which meant that I got in some awesome travels visiting him! I started my blog halfway through his time away, and you can read some of the recaps of our time Cambodia and China here.

soup2

The first place I visited him was last August, in Turkey! It was wild. We knew we wanted to stay together while he was away, but I definitely was nervous how it was actually going to play out. When I saw him in Turkey, we had been doing long distance for about two months and the visit came at the perfect time, and I absolutely fell in love with the country and, of course, more in love with Nate! I was heartbroken when I left and knew we still had many more months of his travel to go before we were to move to SF.

I found a picture below of one of our meals! Bah - so nostalgic.

http://

We shall never stop eating

A photo posted by Dani Nemzer (@danicaliforniacooks) on

I think what really stole my heart was Turkish food. I’ve blabbed on the blog multiple times with how much I love Turkish cuisine. I ate my weight in eggplant and dried fruit and hummus all I wanted when I came home to the States was…more eggplant and dried fruit and hummus.

soup3

We also ate a TON of lentil soup. I know it sounds crazy. It was August, and 90 degrees out in Istanbul, but we would sit in our own sweat and enjoy lentil soup! Wherever we went for dinner or lunch and they had lentil soup on the menus - we would order it. No matter where we got it, it always had a few things in common - it was pureed, and it was served with lemon wedges.

sop5

I’ve been meaning to recreate it at home, and I finally did this past week. I forgot how easy pureed soups were to make, and how easy and naturally creamy they are. I served it with some lemon wedges, and while I was definitely taken back to Turkey, the fact that we weren’t sweating - actually, we were bundled up because it was kind of cold - well, the soup definitely seemed more appropriate!


5.0 from 5 reviews
Turkish Lentil Soup (vegan, gluten free)
 
Print
Cook time
Total time
 
Change up your typical lentil soup by pureeing it - Turkish style! Served with a lemon wedge, its a fragrant, creamy and comforting vegan and gluten free meal.
Author:
Serves: 4 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 cup red lentils
  • 1 box vegetable stock
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 cup carrots, chopped (or baby carrots)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Lemon wedges for serving
Instructions
  1. In a large pot, sautee the onion and garlic in the olive oil until translucent
  2. Add the lentils, carrots, and vegetable stock
  3. Bring to a boil, and then reduce on low for 1-2 hours
  4. Add in the paprika, salt, and pepper
  5. Using an immersion blender or transferring to an actual blender, puree the soup
  6. Serve with lemon wedges

If you like this, you’ll love: Mom’s Lentil Soup

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

It's only fair to share...Email this to someonePin on PinterestTweet about this on TwitterShare on Facebook

Comments

  2. I’ve never been to Turkey, but I’ve heard fabulous things, and I can just imagine how amazing the food is! I looove lentils and they totally don’t get enough love! Thanks for correcting that with this soup, girlfriend! I’ve never had lentils pureed before! Looks beyond delish and totally comforting! So Yum!!! Cheers, Dani! <3
    Cheyanne @ No Spoon Necessary recently posted…Dr Pepper Glazed Jalapeno MeatballsMy Profile

    Reply

  6. Your trip sounds amazing… and so does Turkish cuisine. I am planning on making your soup this week- I am on a lentil kick and this soup looks so flavorful and delicious. I usually puree split peas for soup so this will be an awesome variation.
    Liora recently posted…Almond Butter Teff CookiesMy Profile

    Reply

  9. Aw, what a romantic story behind this soup! I had no idea that Nate took a year off to travel the world. How freakin’ cool is that?! And that’s pretty awesome you got to join him for some of the time. Turkey sounds like an amazing place that I would love to visit one day. Especially to eat soups like this. It’s so simple but it looks comforting and so flavorful!
    Sarah @ Making Thyme for Health recently posted…Roasted Acorn Squash and Apple SoupMy Profile

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate this recipe:  

CommentLuv badge