If unprivileged ingredients exist then green lentils are among them: their color is hardly appetizing, and the taste can be easily bland unless some additional measures are taken. I confess, when it comes to soups I often prefer their red sisters. There is nothing more comforting than a red lentil soup being it dal seasoned with the warming spices or its soothing Turkish version with tomato and pepper pastes. However, I changed my opinion about green lentils last week after trying a green lentil soup made by a female cook who serves homemade meals at her tiny cafe not far from where I live in Istanbul.
Wholesome Green Lentil Soup: Turn of Seasons
Pilaf with Green Lentils and Caramelized Onions
Pilaf is a part and parcel of our family meals in Sapanca, and we are no different from other Turkish families. When mothers fry a pile of home-made meatballs (köfte) they do not forget to make buttery rice pilaf as a garnish. Pilaf with orzo (dark-brown pasta looking like an oversize rice grain) is cooked everyday at the canteens serving sulu yemekler (stews): indeed, kuru fasulye and such are only right to eat with pilaf and let the grains coat in the tasty gravy. At a kebab restaurant your portion of Urfa kebab arrives with a neat pile of bulgur pilaf reddish with the tomato paste. Stuffing wine leaves, mussels an what not also means preparing pilaf called iç pilavı in Turkish (literally, pilaf for stuffing) that everyone loves for the sweetness of onions, crunch of pine nuts, tartness of the raisins and fragrance of the spices.
