Fork Food Soup / Çatal Aşı Çorbası is a soup which has wheat berries and green lentils as basic ingredients. The name of the soup – fork food – indicates that it is a very thick soup. It is from the ancient city of Corum. There are many findings that the city has been around since 2300 B.C. There are monuments to see from the Romans, Byzantine and the Ottomans.
If we get back to the recipe I must say that it is a very good option especially for cold days. It quickly heats you up. There is a good amount of dry mint flakes and red pepper flakes in it. You do not need to soak the green lentils the night before. Just make sure you thoroughly rinse the lentils before starting to boil. It might be a good idea to check that there are no little rocks or similar too. Once the water comes to boil immediately rinse and put fresh water and bring to boil again and let simmer until ready. This is to get rid of the dark water the lentils leave out.
Wheat berries are the least processed form of the grain. Unfortunately it is not gluten free. I suggest you do soak the wheat berries the night before. Although this is not a must, it does reduce the cooking time, the next day. If you cannot find wheat berries you can replace with coarse bulgur.
A strong, healthy, nutritious soup. Enjoy.
Fork Food Soup
Ingredients
- 250 grams green lentils
- 200 grams wheat berries
- 1 onion grated
- 1 green pepper chopped
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- ½ tea spoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon dry mint flakes
- ½ pinch salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 meat boullions optional
- 1½ litres water cold
- 1 lemon wedged
Instructions
- Wash the lentils in a colander. Put the lentils in a pot and add cold water on top. Bring water to boil over high heat. As soon as the water comes to boil. Discard the water, add new water and boil again. As soon as the water boils again, reduce the heat, just enough to simmer. Do not cover lid.
- First wash and then soak the wheat berries overnight to shorten the cooking time. On the day, boil the wheat berries, in a separate pot fresh water.
- If any unpleasent bubbles come up-while boiling both of them, skim and discard. Cook until both the lentils and the wheat berries are edible. Should take around 15-20 minutes each. Taste one of each to understand.
- Meanwhile in a saucepan add the olive oil and butter. When butter is melted and the grated onion. Sauté the onions until they are translucent.
- Take out the seeds of the peppers and chop them really small and add to the onions. Sauté until they soften.
- Add the tomato paste to the onions and sauté for a minute.
- Then add the dry mint, red pepper flakes, ground black pepper. Mix for an additional minute and close the heat.
- Add the onion mixture to the soup.
- Add also meat bullions if you choose to use them. Replace with meat stock if available.
- Add salt to taste. Cook for another 5 minutes.
- This soup is supposed to be thick, but will become thicker when it waits, add hot water if necessary.
- Serve hot, offer lemon wedges next to it.