Do you believe that eating hot things when you're hot helps you cool off? I didn't until I was served a steaming bowl of Turkish red lentil soup for lunch one day in the middle of July.
It's really true. The steaming soup was much hotter than everything else around me, so it instantly made me feel cooler. As I sipped on each spoonful, I could feel my face cool down as the soup travelled downward warming my insides.
Since then, I've discovered that in Turkey, hot soup is eaten all year round. Even throughout the hottest days of summer and during the holy month of Ramadan.
Red lentils are one of the most common ingredients in Turkish cuisine and lentil soup is one of the most popular soups served at breakfast , lunch and dinner. Some other popular Turkish soups include:
- Highland meadow soup, or 'yayla corbasi' (yai-LAH' chor-bah-SU')
- Tomato soup
- Ezogelin soup
If you want to find out about even more varieties of Turkish soup to help keep you cool, or just to satisfy your appetite for good, healthy food, see also: All About Turkish Soups