Erişte Çorbası – Turkish Noodle & Lentil Soup

There are some recipes that don’t need a long list of ingredients to be comforting and erişte çorbası is exactly that kind of food. This simple Turkish soup combines earthy lentils with tomato paste, pul biber and erişte; traditional Turkish noodles that turn a simple broth into something hearty enough for a proper meal. It’s warm, slightly spicy and exactly the kind of soup you'd want for both fall/autumn and winter.

I used homemade erişte for this recipe, which makes it even more special. If you can get your hands on homemade erişte, definitely use it, but store-bought erişte works too.

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What is erişte?

Erişte is a traditional Turkish noodle and, depending on where you are in Türkiye, you’ll find different ways of making, cutting and serving it.

Türkiye’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry describes erişte as a traditional food similar to pasta or noodles. Production differs by region, but traditionally the dough is made with flour, water and salt, with eggs also added in some regions. The dough is rolled out, cut and dried.

That drying process is an important part of the tradition. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s page for Kırıkkale, for example, describes erişte being cut into strips, dried in the sun and then stored in cloth bags as food for winter.

And erişte wasn’t always something made alone in the kitchen. In Niğde, the local culinary tradition describes neighbours gathering together during sunny summer days to prepare erişte for winter. The noodles would be rolled, cut and dried, with different cuts prepared for different uses — including smaller varieties specifically intended for soup.

A similar communal tradition is documented in Van, where friends and relatives would be invited to help with cutting and preparing erişte together.

So while today we can simply grab a bag from the cupboard, homemade erişte is connected to something much bigger: preparing food for the colder months and making it together.

And yes, erişte absolutely belongs in soup. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism documents erişte aşı in Kars, for example, where erişte is cooked in a hearty soup with chickpeas, green lentils and vegetables.

My version is much simpler: lentils, tomato paste, pul biber and homemade erişte in a warming broth.

Serves: 3–4

Prep time: 5-10 minutes

Cooking time: approximately 20–30 minutes

Ingredients

✿ 80 g black lentils

✿ 1 medium onion, finely chopped

✿ 1–2 tbsp olive oil

✿ 1 heaped tbsp tomato paste

✿ 1 tsp pul biber, or more to taste

✿ 1–1.2 litres vegetable stock

✿ 100–120 g homemade erişte

✿ Salt, to taste, if needed

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6MIbnZUcI8E

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Add the finely chopped onion and sauté for a few minutes until softened and lightly golden.

2. Add the tomato paste and pul biber. Stir and cook for another minute or two. Cooking the tomato paste briefly with the onions helps deepen the flavour of the soup.

3. Rinse the lentils, then add them to the pot along with the vegetable stock. Stir everything together and bring to a boil.

4. Lower the heat and let the soup gently simmer for around 20–30 minutes, or until the lentils are tender. Keep an eye on the liquid as it cooks and add a little extra hot water if the soup becomes thicker than you like.

5. Once the lentils are cooked, add the erişte directly to the soup.

6. Let everything simmer together for approximately 8–10 minutes, or until the erişte is tender. Homemade erişte can vary quite a bit in thickness, so use the cooking time as a guide and taste one to check.

7. Taste the soup and add salt if needed. If your vegetable stock is already salty, you may not need much at all.

8. Serve immediately while it’s nice and hot. If the soup sits for a while, the erişte will continue absorbing some of the broth, so simply add a splash of hot water or stock when reheating.

Afiyet olsun & enjoy!!

A few tips

Don’t add the erişte too early. Let your lentils become tender first. The noodles only need the final few minutes of cooking, and adding them too soon can make them overly soft.

Adjust the consistency to your liking. I like this somewhere between a broth and a really thick soup. If you prefer it more brothy, start with the full 1.2 litres of stock or add some hot water toward the end.

Homemade erişte makes a difference. Because homemade noodles can differ in size and thickness, don’t worry too much about an exact cooking time. Once they’re tender but still have a little bite, they’re ready.

Make it as spicy as you want. One teaspoon of pul biber gives the soup warmth without overpowering everything else, but you can absolutely add more.