Collard Greens Soup (Karalahana Çorbası)

The apartment that I lived in Ankara was on the first floor of one of those old 4 story buildings with just two apartments on each floor and a back yard that the residents didn't care about. A month after the move I remembered there was a back yard and looked over to check it out. Among the things that you can find in the back yards of apartment buildings in Turkey are gazebos, junk, flower beds, people playing "okey," a tile-based game similar to Rumikub, or people drinking tea and eating sunflower seeds. Therefore, I was quite surprised when I saw collard greens in my building's back yard. And I am not talking about two or three plants here; I am talking about endless rows and rows of collard greens. Collard greens is an indispensable component of the Black Sea cuisine in Turkey, and it is difficult to find them outside that province. So I immediately knew there was a homesick Karadenizli (a person from Black Sea) in the building who apparently had a big craving for collard greens. I was right; our concierge Pakize was from Trabzon and capable of consuming a back yard worth of collard greens with her husband in 2-3 months.

The discovery of garden of collard greens intrigued me to cook with them. The next winter I borrowed a bunch of collard greens time to time from Pakize and made collard greens soup based on her instructions. Later, I had this soup a couple of times at different seafood restaurants, but they were not even close to Pakize's recipe. This soup, a specialty of Black Sea, is just perfect for cold winter nights. It has greens, beans, and corn in it; what else can you ask for?        


1 large bunch collard greens
1/2 cup dry white beans (cannellini or northern beans)
1/2 cup cracked corn (you can find cracked corn at Middle Eastern or organic food stores or feeder stores) OR 1/2 cup coarse grits if you cannot find cracked corn
1/4 cup corn flour
7-9 cups of water
3-4 tbsp butter
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp red hot pepper flakes (in traditional recipes you cannot find spice for this soup, but I think hot peppers, hot pepper flakes, or sauces makes this soup even better)

-A night before, put beans in a pot with 3 cups of water. First bring to a boil, then turn it off. Cover and soak overnight.
-The next day cook the beans until soft. (Or use 1 can of beans)
-Wash collard greens well, discard bad leaves and leaf tops. Chop the stems finely. Cut the leaves first into stripes, then into edible-size squarish pieces.
-Boil 7-8 cups of water in a big pot.
-Add collard greens and cracked corn into the boiling water. Cook until soft: ~20-25 minutes.
-Add beans.
-Add corn flour and keep stirring constantly while adding it to prevent lumping.
-Turn the heat to low-medium and cook for almost half an hour to let the soup thicken stirring every 3-45 minutes.
-Heat butter in a small pan. When it's hot but nit burning, add paprika. Let sizzle for a couple of seconds.
-Serve the soup with a spoon or two of butter and paprika on top.

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Corn and Bean Soup (Pakla Çorbası)

This Black Sea Region recipe is a recipe from my dad's side of the family. My aunt invites the rest of the family over dinner (in addition to all the special occasions) when she cooks three special dishes. Number one is mantı, number two is dolma, and number three is pakla soup, which by the way draws more attendees than dolmas. This simple soup is so popular among the family members that there had been times when we fought over the second serving. The popularity derives from the limited number of times we get to have this soup in a year, and this scarcity is a direct result of a-hard-to-find ingredient: corn bulgur.

Corn bulgur although widely used especially in the Black Sea Region is rarely found elsewhere in Turkey or here in the States. Corn bulgur is parboiled crushed kernel corn made by a similar process that is used for common wheat bulgur.

When I got the recipe from my aunt years ago I asked her what to do if I cannot find corn bulgur here in the States, she suggested fresh corn kernels--it turned out fıne, but wasn't the same soup. However, back then I didn't know about grits. After moving to South, I was introduced to grits, cheesy grits in particular--I absolutely love it. Through explorations I came across coarse grits, which creates a very similar taste to that of corn bulgur in pakla soup, which literally means bean soup.


1 cup uncooked coarse grits (1/3 or 1/4 of a kernel coarse)
~ 1 cup dry cannellini beans or ~2 cups cooked cannellini beans or 1 can of cannellini beans
1 small onion, grated
2 tbsp tomato paste
3-4 tbsp butter
salt

1 small piece of bone-in lamb shoulder*

-Put  grits and beans if you're not using can beans in a pot filled with water. Bring to a boil, turn it off, cover and soak overnight.

-Next day put grits and beans in a pot with lots of water (~10-12 cups) with bone-in lamb shoulder and salt. Cook on medium for an hour or until both beans and grits are soft.

-In a frying pan, heat butter and saute grated onion until soft.

-Add tomato paste cook for another minute or two.

-Add onions to the soup and cook for another 5 minutes.

*You can skip the bone-in lamb or beef; this soup is also very good without addition of meat.

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Red Lentil Soup with Couscous (Kuskuslu Mercimek Çorbası)

Is there anyone who does not like red lentil soup? I haven't met that person yet. Here is one more red lentil soup from central Anatolia. The original recipe requires couscous. Turkish couscous is just like pearl couscous and is prepared like pasta as opposed to North African couscous. However, for this recipe, I used regular, north African small couscous.

1/2 cup red lentil
1/3 cup couscous
1 carrot, peeled and petite diced
1 tsp paprika
2 tbsp butter
salt
6 cups of chicken or vegetable stock

optional
black pepper or
crushed pepper flakes or
green chili powder

-Heat the stock in a pot.
-Once it starts boiling add red lentils and carrot. Cook until lentils are cooked--approximately 20 minutes.
-Add couscous and cook for another 10 minutes.
-Turn it off and add salt.
-In a small frying pan heat butter. Add paprika and let it sizzle for 10-15 seconds.
-Serve the soup in bowls and pour the butter+paprika on top of each.

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Green Lentil Soup with Rice (Pirinçli Yeşil Mercimek Çorbası)

Fall is here and I'm as excited about the turning leaves as I am about making soups again. As most of the Turkish green lentil soups, Green Lentil Soup with Rice is also a Central/Eastern Anatolia specialty. It is very simple, yet really delicious one, particularly with a crusty bread.


























1 cup green lentils
1/4 cup rice
1 onion, finely chopped
6 cups of beef or vegetable stock
2 tbsp red pepper or tomato paste
2 tbsp olive oil
salt
black pepper
dill

-Boil 1 cup lentils with 3 cups of water until cooked but firm. Rinse.
-Saute onion in a pot with olive oil until soft.
-Add pepper or tomato paste and stir for another minute. (If you cannot find red pepper paste at Middle Eastern stores, you can spice up your soup by adding 1 tsp of spicy Thai roasted pepper or any Asian pepper paste to tomato paste)
-Add vegetable or beef stock, green lentils, rice, pepper, and salt, and cook on medium to low until rice is cooked.
-Sprinkle dill before you serve.

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Garbanzo Beans and Soft Wheat Berries Soup (Nohut ve Buğdaylı Çorba)

A hearty delicious soup for the last cold days of winter from Lezzet's February 2007 issue.

1 cup dry garbanzo beans
1/2 cup soft wheat berries
1/2 cup red lentils
1 small celery root/celeria, grated
1 carrot, petite diced
5-6 parsley stems, chopped
2-3 celery root stems, chopped
2 tbsp butter
2 small onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
6 cups vegetable or beef stock
2 tsp oregano leaves
1 cup plain yogurt (non-fat, 1%, 2%, or whole milk)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper


























-Put garbanzo beans and soft wheat berries in a pot. Cover with water ~3 inches above garbanzo and soft wheat berries. Bring to a boil. Then turn it off, cover and soak overnight. Wash and rinse them well the next day.
-Heat butter in a big pot. Add onions and cook until soft.
-Add in red lentils and tomato paste. Stir for 2-3 minutes. Then, add soaked garbanzo beans and soft wheat berries. Stir for another 2-3 minutes.
-Add grated celery root, diced carrot, chopped parsley and celery root stems, oregano leaves, black pepper, salt, and stock (vegetable or beef).
-Let it boil on medium heat for approximately an hour.
-In a small bowl, mix yogurt and olive oil.
-Slowly stir yogurt into the soup. Mix once and let it boil for a couple of minutes. Then turn it off. The soup is ready.

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Lentil Soup with Bulgur (Bulgurlu Mercimek Çorbası)

Lentil soups are very common in Turkey. This one is traditionally made with red lentils. However, I like the taste of bulgur more with brown or green lentils. For this one I used French lentils. The peppery taste of French lentils along with dried mint was simply perfect for this winter soup. To try the traditional Turkish recipe, just replace French lentils with red lentils.

3 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup French lentils
1/2 cup bulgur (I used fine bulgur, but coarse is fine, too)
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp flour (I used whole wheat)
6-7 cups of stock
2-3 tbsp dried mint flakes
2 tsp thyme
2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt


























-Saute onion with butter until soft.
-Add flour stir constantly for 1-2 minutes. Add tomato paste, stir another 1-2 minutes.
-Add lentils, bulgur, stock, and salt.
-Cover and simmer until lentils are cooked for approximately 30 minutes.
-At this point, if you want a smooth soup use a blender.
-Add mint, thyme, and pepper flakes.

Dried mint flakes definitely brightens up this soup remarkably. For the power of dried mint flakes, this recipe is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging which was founded by Kalyn and is hosted this week by Anna's Cool Finds.

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Milky Celery Root Soup (Sütlü Kereviz Çorbası)

When it's really cold outside my mom would make the traditional tarhana soup (a fermented soup mix with tomato, yogurt and flour) with milk. In Turkey I wouldn't even try the milky tarhana, but here since I cannot find it, I crave it. This milky celery soup is a result of longing for tarhana. It turned out very good and is really perfect for cold weather.

1 cup cubed celery root
2 carrots, chopped in rounds
2 potatoes, cubed
5 cups of water
2 bay leaves
pinch of ground cumin
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
salt


























-Place celery, carrot, potato, cumin, salt, bay leaves, and water in a pot. Cook until vegetables are cooked.
-Take out bay leaves and with a hand blender or a blender smoothen them.
-Put butter and flour in a frying pan. Make roux constantly stirring. Add milk and keep stirring until smooth. As soon as it starts boiling, pour this into soup.
-Stir well.

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Red Lentil and Wheat Berry Soup (Kırmızı Mercimekli ve Buğdaylı Çorba)

1/2 cup wheat berries
1 cup red lentils
6 cups of beef or vegetable stock/broth
a pinch of saffron
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried mint flakes
1 tsp red pepper flakes
salt

-Boil wheat berries with 4 cups of water until soft. Rinse excessive water.
-In a pot boil 6 cups of beef or vegetable stock. Add first saffron threads, boil for a minute and then add wheat berries and red lentils. Cook for 20-25 minutes until lentils are cooked.
-Heat oil in a pan. Add mint and pepper flakes. Let it sizzle for a bit.
-Pour oil mix either into the pot or into every soup bowl on top of soup.

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Cold Soft Wheat Berry Soup (Soğuk Buğday Çorbası)

I'm back from Turkey with great memories and recipes. The first recipe is "cold soft wheat berry soup." Although this dish is called soup, it might be served as an appetizer or a side dish. However it's served, it's a great refreshing and healthy dish for hot and humid summer days. During most summer days, my mom keeps cooked soft wheat berries ready in the refrigerator (they are usually good for at least a week). The last week of July was unbearably humid generally in Turkey and especially in my hometown; so hot and humid that our favorite pass time activity was to sit motionless in front air conditioners. During those painful days, cold soft wheat berry soup and ice cold watermelons were the only two things we could have for lunch and both felt sooo good.






















soft wheat berries
yogurt
water
dried-mint flakes or finely chopped fresh mint
oregano leaves
red pepper flakes
olive oil
salt

-Boil wheat berries with a good amount of water until cooked. (You can cook more than you need for the day and keep the rest in the refrigerator for at least a week)
-Take as much as you need in a big bowl and add yogurt on top enough to cover the berries when mixed. (We always add a little more than necessary to cover berries)
-If you like a thick bowl of soup, do not add water, but if you like it thinner add some water. With this soup, everything is up to you; you can add more or less of everything.
-Sprinkle mint, oregano, pepper flakes, and salt on top.
-Add 1 or 2 tbsp of olive oil.
-Mix and serve cold.

This recipe with the dried herbs is for Weekend Herb Blogging. WHB was founded by Kalyn and is hosted by Zorra from Kochtopf.

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Roasted Beet Soup (Fırınlanmış Pancar Çorbası)

I had found a recipe for a roasted beet soup at Cafe Fernando. I was mesmerized by the color of the beet soup and also by the fact that I'd never cooked with beets before. So I decided to try; however, the original recipe asked for celery stalks, which I cannot stand, and was introduced as a "sweet" one. So, to avoid celery stalks and sweetness, I modified the recipe a little bit, o.k. maybe a lot.

I updated the recipe after my 2nd trial.

3 beet roots, diced
1 cup beet stalks, chopped
5 cloves of garlic
1 carrot, cut in rounds
1 potato, diced
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup rice
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp white peppercorn
1 tsp crushed pepper/ pepper flakes (if you want it spicy)
1 tsp red chili powder
7 cups of water or vegetable stock
1/2 bunch dill

optional
juice of 1 lemon or lime
crumbled feta

-Wrap beet roots separately and garlic cloves together in aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven at 375 F for an hour. You have to let them cool down to a bearable temperature before you peel and dice the roots.
-Heat oil + butter in a large pot and start cooking onions, peppers, and beet stalks
-Add carrots and potatoes. Stir on medium heat for 4-5 minutes
-Now it's time to add beets, garlic, and white peppercorns. Stir for 2-3 minutes
-Add red chili powder, stir for half a minute and add water, salt, and crushed pepper
-When the water boils add rice. Cook for 40 minutes on low to medium heat and stir every now and then
-The soup will be ready when rice is cooked
-I used the soup master (the hand blender) to smoothen it. If you won't smoothen the soup, you should probably chop everything finely
-Garnish with dill and serve with a slice of lemon or lime. The sourness gives it a nice flavor

Things to keeps in mind if you'll try to make this soup are 1) do not wear white! 2) do not skip on dill; you won't believe how well roasted beet and dill get along 3) be adventurous and sprinkle some crumbled feta on top with dill (it's good with lemon juice, too, but I think I favor feta over lemon).

This recipe with the must-have ingredient dill is for Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging which is hosted by Ulrike of Kuchenlatein.

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Yogurt Soup (Yayla Çorbası)

Yogurt soup is a popular comfort dish both in Turkey and Central Asia. To me, it shows how we, Turks, are obsessed with yogurt; we even cook it! It's also a very common sick soup; even inhaling the strong smell of mint or tarragon makes you feel better. Although Turks love this soup, I can see why many people, especially those who are not in good terms with yogurt, may not like this. So, the decision is up to you: to try or not to try...

1/4 cup rice
5 cups of water (if you wish you can use half chicken stock, half water)
2 cups of plain yogurt
1 egg
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp dried mint or tarragon
1 tsp salt

-Boil rice in 5 cups of water with salt until (very) soft.
-In a bowl, beat the egg and flour well, and then add yogurt and mix. With 1-2 tbsp water lighten up this mixture.
-Put the yogurt mix in a pot and start cooking on very low. It's important that you start with low heat, otherwise yogurt would curdle. Give yogurt some time to get used to heat. Cook on low heat for approximately 15 minutes and keep stirring.
-Slowly pour in rice along with water into the soup. Keep stirring. First let it boil on medium and then turn it down and cook for another 10 minutes.
-Heat butter in a pan. Once it sizzles, add mint flakes and stir for 20-30 seconds (don't let it burn). Then, pour it into soup.

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Pumpkin Soup with Red Cabbage and Cumin Seeds (Balkabağı Çorbası)

3 cups of baked and mashed pumpkin
1 onion, chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
1/2 cup red cabbage, chopped finely
1 banana pepper, chopped
3 cups of vegetable stock
1/2 cup yogurt
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp pepper flakes
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp rosemary
salt



















-We cut the pumpkin you see above into two, took the seeds out with a spoon, and placing the two halves on an oven pan baked them until soft. (with one half, Aaron made a pumpkin pie, the other half got into this soup)
-Heat the oil in a big pot and stir in the onion and garlic. After 3-4 minutes, add in red cabbage, banana pepper, mustard seeds, and cumin seeds. Stir for 8-10 minutes.
-Add paprika, stir for a minute and then add pumpkin puree, vegetable stock, yogurt, black pepper, pepper flakes, thyme, and rosemary, and salt. Simmer for half an hour.
-I smoothened the soup with a hand blender, my soup master; however, if you want a chunky soup, you don't need the soup master.

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Tomato Soup with Greek Noodle Nests (Yunan Şehriye Toplu Domates Çorbası)

I found these Greek thin noodle nests at an international market. They looked so cute that I had to buy them. On the package it was suggested to cook the noodle nests in water with a little bit olive oil and salt, and to serve as a soup with lemon juice. That recipe sounded blend to me, so I decided to use them in tomato soup, and the result was very tasty. The only drawback, which is not actually a drawback, was that I had to eat my soup with the help of a fork. As you can see from the picture below noodles were a bit long for a spoon!



























4 Greek thin noodle nests (the brand I got was Misko)
1 can of organic diced tomatoes processed in a food processor OR 3 tomatoes, processed / blended OR 2 cups of tomato juice
2 tbsp olive oil or butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, sliced (optional)
1 banana pepper or red pepper, chopped
4 cups of vegetable stock or water
1 tsp paprika
1tsp of peppercorns (optional)
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped

-Heat the oil in a broad pot. Saute onion and pepper until soft. Add paprika and constantly stir for at most a minute (burnt paprika is useless)
-Stir in the tomato. Bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes. Add vegetable stock, black pepper, pepper flakes, and salt. Bring to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn down to medium.
-Place the noodle nests. Cook for 5 minutes on low-medium. Do not let it boil vigorously and do not cook more than 5 minutes, you may lose the nest shape.
-After 5 minutes, turn it off and add parsley.

I switched back to parsley again for Weekend Herb Blogging which is founded and hosted by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen. Kalyn is also among the hosts of the Menu for Hope event. For more information visit either Kalyn's blog or Chez Pim.

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Ezo the Bride Soup (Ezo Gelin Çorbası)

Ezo was a real person who lived in the south eastern part of Turkey, close to Syrian border, in early 20th century. She had two miserable marriages, and died in Syria, homesick. There are films based on her hard, unfortunate life. But I have no idea why this soup is named after her.

The most important trivia about Ezo Gelin soup is that you cannot find a single Kebapçı (Kebab Restaurant) in Turkey that doesn't serve this soup. It's the best starter before kebap-you have to have the soup, and whatever you do at home, Ezo Gelin soup is always better at a Kebapçı, even at a sloppy one. Also, it's famous for being a perfect hangover cure, after Tripe Soup (İşkembe Çorbası).

traditional ingredients:
1 cup red lentils
1/3 cup rice or bulgur
1 tbsp pepper paste
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 tbsp dry mint leaves
1/4 tsp black pepper
pepper flakes, as much as you want
1 tbsp olive oil
salt
60 oz water

optional ones:
I usually add 1 small potato and 1 carrot

-If you have a pressure cooker and a hand blender, put everything in pressure cooker (chop onion, potato, and carrot in reasonable pieces) and cook for 25 minutes on medium heat. Then, use the blender to smoothen the soup.

-If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can still boil everything together until lentils and rice are soft.

-If you have neither a pressure cooker, nor a blender then you need to finely chop the onion; make sure it's really finely chopped. You can also finely chop the potato and carrot, but I prefer grating them. Garlic should be minced. After all the chopping and grating, recipe is the same: put everything in a pot and cook until lentils and rice are soft. Stir every 5 minutes.

For the sauce:
-Heat olive oil or butter (1 tbsp for 2-3 servings) in a skillet
-When oil starts sizzling (if you're using butter, try not to burn it) add 1/2 tsp paprika and after approximately 30 seconds remove from the heat. Pour over the soup.

-Squeeze lemon on the soup before you eat

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Red Lentil Soup (Kırmızı Mercimek Çorbası)

for the soup:
1 cup red lentils
1 medium size onion
1 carrot
1 tbsp tomato or pepper paste (or you can do half&half)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp crushed pepper or red peppercorns
6 cups of water

for the sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil or butter
1 tbsp sweet or spicy paprika

-With a pressure cooker: Put everything (onion and carrot coarsley chopped) for the soup in the pressure cooker and cook on medium for 15 minutes and then smoothen the soup with a blender
-With a regular pot: Put everything for the soup in a big pot and cook on medium heat until the lentils are soft and mushy, for about 20-25 minutes. Smoothen it with a blender.
-If you don't have a hand blender or if you want to have a chunky soup, chop the onion finely and grate the carrot before you cook them.
-Previous two are, in a way, healthier ways of making this soup. If you want to try the tastier way, sautee the onion with 1 tbsp oil for 3-4 minutes. Add the paste and cook for a couple of minutes, and add the rest of the soup ingredients. From this point on, everything will be the same. Sauteed onion and paste will make quite a difference, though.
-Before serving the soup, heat the oil in a skillet and when it's hot add the paprika. Stir for 5-10 seconds. Pour a couple of scoops of the oil+paprika sauce on the soup bowl.
-Squeeze a little bit of lemon juice on top.

optional: sprinkle parsley on top

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Mung Bean Soup with Coconut Milk (Maş Fasülye Çorbası)

I got these mung beans at Bloomingfoods a month ago, but since I didn't know what to do with them, they were locked in a jar waiting for me to come up with an idea. I did some research on them and found out that mung beans are used in either Central and East Asian cuisines or Indian cooking. I decided to go with Indian style and make a soup. (Jen and I decided to add coconut milk at the very end, so the recipe probably became a thaindian one) I will try later the Central Asian style and make lamb stew with them.



This is a chunky soup;
I didn't smoothen it
with a hand blender,
so you should probably
chop everything finely
or grate them if possible.



1 cup mung beans
3 tbsp olive or sun flower or corn oil
1 onion, chopped finely or grated
1 carrot, grated
1 bell pepper, chopped
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can petite diced tomato or 2 tomatoes, grated
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp crushed pepper
salt
3 cups of water
1 can coconut milk
1/2 bunch parsley (or cilantro) to garnish

-Although these are dry beans you don't need to precook them. Mung beans are really tiny (and very cute) so even if they are dry it is easy to cook them. I cooked them for 5 minutes with the pressure cooker. It would probably take at most half an hour or 45 minutes to cook them with a regular pot. Or you can soak them in water over night.
-Heat the oil in a big pot and cook onions and garlic for a couple of minutes
-Add green onions, peppers, and carrots. Stir for 5 minutes
-Add tomatoes, ginger, turmeric, curry, garam masala, cumin, mustard seeds, crushed peppers, and salt. Stir for another 5 minutes, and add mung beans and water. Cook on medium heat for 15 minutes
-Pour in coconut milk and simmer 10 more minutes.
-Garnish with parsley or cilantro. You can also squeeze a little bit of lemon juice on the soup.

This soup turned out to be a great one.

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Bourbon Split Pea Soup (Bourbonlu Bezelye Çorbası)

Here's a recipe inspired by Bardstown, KY Bourbon Festival.

1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
2 carrots, cut in rounds
1/2 cup green split peas
1/2 cup red lentils (or yellow split peas)
2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped (or dried)
1 tsp crushed red pepper/ pepper flakes
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika or red chili powder
salt
2 tbsp olive oil or butter
6 cups of vegetable stock or beef broth or just water
and THE most important ingredient 1/2 cup bourbon

If you will use a pressure cooker, you don't need to precook anything, but if you'll use a regular pot, boil peas and lentils for an hour or soak in water overnight.

-Heat the oil in a big pot and add onion, garlic, and pepper. Stir until onions are cooked
-Add carrots and 1 tsp rosemary, and cook for 4-5 minutes
-Add paprika and stir for a minute
-Put in split peas, lentils, bourbon, water, black pepper, crushed pepper, and salt
-With pressure cooker: Cook first on high then low heat for 20 minutes
With a regular pot, cook for 45 minutes on medium heat
-I used a hand blender to smoothen the soup and garnished it with the rest of the rosemary. If you want to have it chunky, you may want to cut everything in smaller pieces, especially the carrots.



























I used "Old Bardstown" 10 year old 101 proof bourbon, since the recipe was inspired by Bardstown; however, I'm sure it'll be good with any bourbon, especially with "Maker's Mark".
Cheers!

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Tomato Soup with Rice (Pirinçli Domates Çorbası)

This is my all time favorite summer soup.
3-4 tomatoes, grated (if it's winter you can use 1 can of diced tomato, you should smoothen it in a blender)
1 banana or 1/2 bell pepper, chopped finely
1 small clove of garlic, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil or butter
1/4 cup white rice
1/2 tsp paprika or red chili powder
1/2 tbsp peppercorns (I use peppercorns, because I love them and I think crushed black pepper changes the bright red color of the soup)
3 cups of hot water or stock
salt
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped to garnish
-In a pot heat the oil over medium heat
-Add the garlic and green peppers, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes
-Stir in paprika and cook for half a minute
-Stir in grated tomatoes and bring to a boil
-Cook at low for app. 10 minutes, until it has a darker red color
-Stir in water and bring to a boil
-Add rice, salt, and peppercorns, and keep cooking on medium heat
-The soup will be ready when the rice is cooked
-Add parsley after turning off the heat

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Green Split Pea Soup

This is one of my almost Turkish recipes. It was inspired by Turkish lentil soup (Mercimek Corbasi).

1 cup green split peas
1/4 cup white rice
1 onion
1 bell pepper or banana pepper
1 potato
1 carrot
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp mint (fresh or dried)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil or butter
salt
7-8 cups of water

optional:
curry
gren chili
turmeric
parsley
dill

You can replace green split peas with yellow split peas or yellow lentils.

There are different ways to make this soup. You can use a pressure cooker or a regular pot, and you can use a food processor/a hand blender or grate / chop finely all the ingredients.

1-If you have a pressure cooker and a blender, put everything in the pressure cooker and cook first on high and then low heat for 20 minutes. Then use the blender to smoothen the soup.
If you won't use a blender, then grate or chop finely everything before you cook them.

2-If you want to use a regular pot, put everything in the pot and cook until the peas are soft. Again you can either smoothen the soup with a blender after it's cooked or grate or chop everything beforehand.

Squeeze a little bit of lemon or lime juice before you eat.

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