Red Lentil Soup (Turkey)

Here's another recipe that Ayca, my Turkish friend, shared with me. She cooked this for our International Women's Group potluck lunch as well.

What You'll Need

1 cup of red lentil
6 cups of water
2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon dry mint
1 onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 big potato
4 little carrots

What You'll Do

Wash lentils in hot water to remove dirt and foam. You need to drain in approximately seven times.
Peel the whole onion, but don't chop it.
Peel the potato and carrots, cut them into very small pieces using a mixer.
Boil the water with olive oil.
Add washed lentils into boiling water.
When you add lentils, it will not boil immediately; so when water starts to boil again add your potato-carrot mix.
Add the mint and mix the soup.
Then add the whole onion, put it in the middle of the pan.
When lentil boils, it can make some foam, so you need to remove it with a
spoon. Otherwise, it makes your soup darker.
Cook until lentils melt. It will take total app. 40 min to cook them.
Some lentils will not melt as easily as others, so you can use a hand blender to make it more smooth.
If your lentil is not easily melting, it may require more time for
cooking, so you may need to add more water, depending on desired thickness.