Turkish Vegetable Soup with Orzo Recipe

The cold weather is very much upon us here in Turkey, all the mountains are beautifully snow-capped and you don’t have to travel very far to find snow! To warm you up here’s one of our office favourite recipes, Turkish vegetable soup with Orzo.

TURKISH VEGETABLE SOUP WITH ORZO (Sehriyeli Sebze Corba)

Ingredients 

• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 red peppers, stripped of seeds and roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 garlic clove, diced or pressed
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 dessert spoon tomato salca (paste)
• 1 dessert spoon olive oil
• 1.2 litres vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon oregano (kekik)
• 1 or 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes (pul biber)
• 1 water glass orzo pasta (sehriye)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Handful of flat leaf parsley
• Salt and black pepper
• Crusty Turkish bread or pide bread to serve.

METHOD

1. In a large saucepan, fry the onions, peppers and carrots in the olive oil until starting to soften (3 or 4 minutes).
2. Add the garlic, stir for another minute, then add the oregano, pepper flakes and salca (tomato paste). Stir again to combine.
3. Pour over the stock, stir well, then bring to the boil. Once boiling, turn down the heat to a simmer, cover and allow to bubble away for around 10 minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the orzo pasta, salt, black pepper and cover again for around 10 minutes until the orzo is cooked.
5. Add lemon juice and chopped parsley, stir and adjust seasoning if necessary.
6. Serve it up with a big chunk of crusty bread, lemon wedge and a few extra pepper flakes.

Afiyet Olsun! (Enjoy!)

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