Red lentil soup with paprika butter: 30 minutes and no soaking. Red lentils break down on their own and thicken the soup without flour or a roux. The red butter, made with paprika and mint, adds colour and a light Turkish touch.

30 minprep 8 min · cooking 22 min
4 servingsLunch
Easydifficulty
400 kcalper serving

Ingredients

For the soup

  • 250 gred lentils
  • 1 largeonion (about 150 g)
  • 2carrots (about 200 g)
  • 3 clovesgarlic
  • 2 tbspsunflower oil
  • 1 tbsptomato purée
  • 1 tspground cumin
  • 1.4 litreswater
  • 1bay leaf
  • 1 tspsalt
  • ½lemon (for the juice)

For the red butter

  • 40 gbutter
  • 1 tbspsweet paprika
  • ½ tspdried mint
  • ½ tspchilli flakes (optional)

Method

  1. Rinse the lentils

    Rinse 250 g of lentils in a fine sieve under cold water until the water runs almost clear. Pick out any small stones.

    lentil soup — Rinse the lentils

  2. Chop the vegetables

    Finely chop the onion, cut the carrots into 1 cm cubes and slice the garlic into thin slivers. Small cubes soften in the same time as the lentils.

    lentil soup — Chop the vegetables

  3. Fry the base

    Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pot over medium heat and fry the onion and carrots for 4 minutes, until the onion turns translucent. Add the garlic, tomato purée and cumin and stir for another 30 seconds.

    lentil soup — Fry the base

  4. Cook the lentils

    Add the lentils, the bay leaf and 1.4 litres of water. When it comes to the boil, turn the heat down, skim off the foam and simmer for 18 minutes, until the lentils break down and the soup thickens. Season with 1 tsp of salt.

    lentil soup — Cook the lentils

  5. Make the red butter

    Melt 40 g of butter in a small pan over low heat, then take it off the heat. Add 1 tbsp of paprika, ½ tsp of mint and the chilli flakes and stir for 10 seconds.

    Add the paprika off the heat: in very hot butter it burns in seconds and makes the soup bitter.

    lentil soup — Make the red butter

  6. Season the soup

    Remove the bay leaf and squeeze the juice of ½ lemon into the pot. Taste and add more salt if needed.

    lentil soup — Season the soup

  7. Serve hot

    Ladle the soup into 4 deep bowls and pour a quarter of the red butter over each. Serve straight away, while the butter is still hot.

    lentil soup — Serve hot

How to serve it

Serve with slices of bread toasted in a dry pan and pickled hot peppers on the side.

Did you know?

Lentils are one of the oldest crops people have grown, and they come from the Middle East. Red lentil soup is a staple of Turkish cooking.

Per serving (approximate): 400 kcal · protein 17 g · fat 16 g · carbohydrates 49 g