Almost Turkish Recipes

Tomato Soup with Rice (Pirinçli Domates Çorbası)




This is my all time favorite summer soup.
3-4 tomatoes, grated (if it's winter you can use 1 can of diced tomato, you should smoothen it in a blender)
1 not spicy green pepper such as Italian or banana OR 1-2 small red sweet peppers, chopped finely
1 small clove of garlic, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil or butter
1/4 cup white rice
1/2 tsp paprika or red chili powder
1/2 tbsp peppercorns (I use peppercorns, because I love them and I think crushed black pepper changes the bright red color of the soup)
3 cups of hot water or stock
salt
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped to garnish
-In a pot heat the oil over medium heat
-Add the garlic and green peppers, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Don't burn them.
-Stir in paprika and cook for ~20 seconds.
-Stir in grated tomatoes and bring to a boil
-Cook at low for approximately 10 minutes, until it has a darker red color
-Stir in water and bring to a boil
-Add rice, salt, and peppercorns, and keep cooking on medium heat
-The soup will be ready when the rice is cooked
-Add parsley after turning off the heat or in the bowls.
-Serve with crusty fresh bread or toasted bread on the side.

9 comments:

  1. Wow i've always wanted to live in Turkey and i've always been interested in turkish cuisine. This soup looks scrumptious I shall definetley be making it.

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  2. Anonymous3:22 AM

    Funny, I read the part: 1 banana or 1/2 bell pepper part and thought: Why would someone put banana in tomato soup?

    Kuby

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  3. Anonymous10:37 AM

    this looks delicious! i love all your recipes, they are perfect for impressing my picky turkish boyfriend :)

    my turkish friend made something like this the other day: spicy tomato soup with orzo, but it had eggy bits in it.... is that a specific different kind of soup, or do you think she just stirred in egg at the end of a normal tomato soup, like this one?

    i can't find it elsewhere on the internet and i trust your recipes more than anywhere else, so please respond if you have any tips!

    and keep it up! you're feeding us almost every night! :)

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    Replies
    1. That's called "terbiye" from Arabic "tarbiya" or as in Greek "avgolemono." You can make the soup and 5-10 minutes before taking it off the stove, mix juice of one lemon with one egg yolk (some also like to add ~2 tbsp flour to this) mix well. Lighten it up with 1-2 tbsp water first, then warm it up with 1-2 tbsp hot soup. And then slowly add the eggy-lemon sauce to the soup, keep stirring. Here's your "terbiyeli" tomato soup

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  4. How many portions does this make?

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  5. Anonymous9:56 AM

    Can we substitute brown rice or would that be too different?

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    Replies
    1. Absolutely, the taste will be similar. However, brown rice takes way longer to cook than white rice. Maybe you can cook the brown rice separately and then add it to the soup for the last simmer.

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