Ezo Gelin Soup (Bride Ezo’s Soup) is a traditional Turkish lentil soup. It’s a hearty soup that is perfect for cold winter days, made with red lentils, rice, bulgur and dried mint leaves. It contains only vegetables,legumes, and cereal so it is appropriate for vegans or vegetarians as well.
“Ezo” is a female name and “gelin” means bride in Turkish. The origin of this soup is attributed to an exceptionally beautiful woman named Ezo, who married and moved from her hometown where she became homesick for her village and had to deal with a difficult mother-in-law who couldn’t be pleased. It is for her, the story goes, that Ezo created this soup.
Even though the original recipe calls for white rice, I substituted it with barley to make the recipe whole-grain.
Ingredients:
(serves 4)
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 1 cup red lentils
- 1/3 cup barley
- 1/3 cup bulgur
- 1 tomato, diced or 1/2 can diced tomatoes
- tomato paste or pepper paste ( can be found in Middle Eastern grocery stores)
- vegetable broth ( or chicken broth, or water)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground paprika
- 1 tbsp of dried mint
- 1/2 tbsp of dried thyme
- salt and pepper to taste
- olive oil ( you can omit it if you want to)
Directions:
- Wash and drain the lentils and barley. In a small soup pan stir fry onions with little olive oil until they soften. Add diced tomatoes, keep stirring. Once tomatoes release their juice add tomato or pepper paste, stir fry for a few minutes. Add lentils and barley to the pot, add enough broth or water to cover them. Let it boil until the lentils are almost dissolved and barley is softened. Collect the foam on the surface from time to time. Add some water if it boils down.
- Once the barley is soft, add bulgur, cumin, paprika, pepper and salt to the pot, boil for 15-20 mins.
- Take it off the heat, add dried mint and thyme, stir and close the lid until you serve.
- Serve topped with some dried mint, crushed chillies and a wedge of lemon.
Afiyet olsun!
🙂
this is excellent a woman of many talents -i will definetely try the dokhra in the microwave