Red lentil soup (mercimek çorbası)

Red lentils are cooked with onion, carrot and a little potato, then puréed into a velvety, thick soup. It is finished with butter and red pepper flakes and served with lemon and toasted bread.

In Türkiye soup is eaten at any meal from breakfast to dinner, and in lokantas the day begins with lentil soup. During Ramadan the iftar meal usually opens with soup.

Ezogelin soup is a cousin made with bulgur and mint; its name comes from the legend of Ezo the bride from Gaziantep.