Red Lentil Soup

Its the most common Turkish soup.  A Turkish meal definitely has a soup, bread, (as a starter), a Salad, followed by a Main dish, which finally ends with a dessert. This soup is very easy to make, you could skip 1 or 2 ingredients and it still tastes good ! Whenever I bake a bread, i make such thick soups (which i bet is a perfect combination ! ), along with a Salad and i get a very complete and healthy meal! 

Ingredients for 2-4 persons

Redgram - 200gms
Vegetable stock - 300 ml
Paprika powder/chilli powder - 1/2 tsp (according to your taste buds)
Salt
Onion - 1
Potato -1
Carrot - 1
raw rice - 1tbsp
Celery 1 (optional)
Water - 2 cups
Olive oil - 2 tbsp
garlic pod -1
white bread slices -2 (cut into small cubes)

For garnishing
parsley(fresh or frozen) - optional

Method
1. Cut onion,potato,carrot into small pieces.
2. Pressure cook or slow cook together redgram, onion, potato, carrot, celery, rice, paprika powder, Vegetable stock, water, salt,  until tender.
3. Now blend the cooked soup with a blender. If the soup is thick, add some more water and then blend it. You could as well leave small pieces of carrot and potato unblended.

4. In a separate pan, heat the olive oil, add the crushed garlic pod, and the small cubes of the bread and fry it for few seconds until the bread pieces become golden brown. If you dont have breads, skip it and pour over just the crushed garlic fried in oil.
5. Garnish the soup with parsley.

Serve it hot with a fresh bread or Chapatis !

This recipe goes to the event A.W.E.D Turkey, hosted by the the taste space, originally started by DK.