Red Lentil, Bulgur and Mint Soup

At our restaurant, we make six different soups from scratch every day.  David spends the morning tasting and refining each soup, a lengthy process, so he is totally sick of soup by the time he comes home.  This means we rarely cook soup at home even though we both love it.  Last night, the cold weather persuaded David to make an exception and the results were spectacular.  This Turkish soup was so good, in fact, that we may try to adapt it to make the large quantities required for the restaurant.  So perhaps, coming soon to a restaurant near you...

Red Lentil, Bulgur and Mint Soup
adapted from The Sultan's Kitchen by Ozcan Ozan
serves 4

Ingredients

2         Tbs         olive oil
2         Tbs         unsalted butter
1                        onion, diced
2                        garlic cloves, minced
2         Tbs         tomato paste
1                        tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped
2         Tbs         paprika
1/2      tsp          ground red pepper
1 1/2   cups        red lentils
1/4      cup         long-grain white rice
6         cups       vegetable stock
1.4      cup         fine-grain bulgur
1         Tbs        dried mint
                         salt and pepper to taste
Topping

2         Tbs       unsalted butter
1         tsp        mint
1/2     tsp         paprika

Procedure

1. Heat olive oil and butter in sauce pan over medium, and saute onions and garlic until soft but not brown.  Add tomato paste, fresh tomatoes, paprika and red pepper and stir.  Add lentils, rice and stock.  Cover and bring to boil, then reduce to simmer and cook until rice is cooked and lentils have broken down, about 35 minutes.  Add bulgur and mint, season with salt and pepper, and cook until bulgur is done, about 10 minutes.
2. While soup is cooking, make the topping by melting butter over low.  Add mint and paprika and stir until the mixture sizzles.  Drizzle on top of each bowl of soup.