This is Turkish red lentil soup, even though the menu at Santorini claims that it's “authentic Greek vegetarian soup”. The name tipped me off: it's definitely Turkish. When my Turkish friend Fatih, who works at Santorini, told me that this soup is often served for breakfast in Turkey, because it's known to be a good hangover recipe, a light went on. I had a fabulous breakfast in Istanbul in 1986 which included good bread, honey, feta cheese, black olives, and what I thought was a type of tomato soup. Ever since, I've remembered that soup, but I could never find it on Turkish breakfast menus, and no one I talked with had any experience of tomato soup for breakfast in Turkey. I ordered a bowl of this soup at Santorini, and with the first spoonful I was transported back to that Istanbul breakfast that I had so fondly remembered. The red lentils were cooked until falling apart, but the soup was still thin, certainly not a porridge. It had texture from the lentils, it was garnished with chopped parsley, and it came with a lemon wedge for squeezing. Fatih brought me a second wedge, because this soup really benefits from the acidic lemon. Fatih told me that the soup is flavored with some tomato paste, which is why I remembered it as tomato soup, though the paste is used judiciously; this really isn't tomato soup. While this may not be one of the world's greatest soups, it does happen to be Fatihs favorite, and my experience today solved a thirty-four year old mystery!
Location: Santorini, 68375 E Palm Canyon Drive, Cathedral City, California. Date: June 13, 2020.
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AuthorChef Roland has been a legal resident of seven countries and has travelled in over thirty, documenting food along the way. He currently resides in the desert in Southern California. Categories
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