Red Lentil Soup
A smooth red lentil soup with onion, carrot and potato, finished with cumin and lemon. This version uses olive oil and water.
The Turkish pantry
Potato
Choose potatoes by cooking use: a fluffy mash and a firm salad need different textures.
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This is the ordinary potato, pictured with yellow skin and flesh. Sweet potato is a different ingredient.
Types & forms
Floury / baking types
Russets suit baking, mashing and roasting.
Waxy / firm types
Red or young potatoes are useful for boiling and salads.
Yellow or white types
Often versatile; check the variety or cooking-use information on the bag.
What to look for when buying
- Choose firm tubers without bruises, cuts, sprouts or green skin.
- Buy for the intended use, not only appearance. Skin color alone does not guarantee cooking behavior.
Prepare & cook
- Scrub under running water, then peel or retain the skin as directed. Cut evenly.
- For the lentil soup, use small peeled cubes and cook until tender before blending.
Store it well
- Keep whole potatoes in a cool, dark, ventilated place, away from hot appliances.
- Avoid buying green or sprouting potatoes; discard potatoes that are green extensively, spoiled or bitter.
Substitutions depend on the dish
For a potato needed to hold its shape
Choose a firm cooking type. A floury potato may break apart more readily.
For ordinary potato in soup
Sweet potato changes sweetness, color and texture; it creates a different version, not an identical result.
Nutrition
Raw potato, flesh and skin [1]
| Nutrient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 77 kcal |
| Protein | 2.05 g |
| Total fat | 0.09 g |
| Saturated fat | 0.03 g |
| Carbohydrate | 17.5 g |
| Dietary fiber | 2.1 g |
| Total sugars | 0.82 g |
| Sodium | 6 mg |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Calcium | 12 mg |
| Iron | 0.81 mg |
| Potassium | 425 mg |
| Vitamin D | 0 µg |
A generic raw-food reference, not a separate analysis of every variety, prepared form or cooked dish. Values are rounded for readability; “not reported” does not mean zero. A “<” value is below the source’s measurement limit.
Nutrition values come from the reference source named above. They are published reference values, not our own measurements. Actual products and cooking methods may change the values.
At the Turkish table
Potato gives body to our version of red lentil soup. Its inclusion is a recipe choice; other Turkish lentil soups use different ingredients and textures.
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