Hello Everyone!!

I hope you all are good and doing well Today I'm here to be a part of this amazing contest SLC-S31W2 -“My taste, My Culture; Across Borders’’. by @alexanderpeace . I really like the theme of contest and we will explore different cultures, their heritage and yummy recipes around the world.

I'm found of lentils and red lentil is one of my favorite so For this contest I'm going to make a delicious recipe of red lentils that belongs to Turkey. Lets move towards contest;

Prepare a meal that belongs to another culture (not your own).Show clear steps of your ingredients and cooking process.

Here is the recipe of Turkish red lentil:

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Ingredients :

-Cooking oil 1 tbs
-Onion chopped 1 medium
-Garlic cloves 3
-Orange lentil gram 1 Cup (washed)
-Potato cubes 1/4 Cup
-Carrot 1/4 Cup
-Salt 1 tsp or to taste
-Hot water 1 & ½ litre
-Cooking oil 1 tbs
-Butter/oil 1 tbs
-Tomato paste 2 tbs
-Paprika powder 1tsp
-Black pepper crushed ½ tsp
-Dried mint 1 tsp

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Making :

• In a pot add cooking oil, onion, garlic, mix well and sauté until translucent. Add orange lentil gram, mix well and cook for 1 minute.

• Add potato, tomato, carrot, salt,mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes.

• Add hot water, mix well and bring it to boil. Cover and cook on low flame for 20-25 minutes then blend well with the help of hand blender.Take out 1/4 Cup lentil soup for later use.

• In frying pan add cooking oil and add tomato paste, mix well and cook for 2 minutes. paprika powder, black pepper crushed and mix well.

• Gradually add reserved lentil soup and mix well. In lentil soup add prepared tomato paste mixture. Mix well and bring it to boil. Add dried mint and mix well. Garnish with dried mint & serve hot!

Which culture or people does it belong to? What is the origin of the food? What does it represents in their culture, lifestyle and history.

This red lentil recipe is belong to Turkish cuisine. If we talk about its origin it comes from Anatolian and Ottoman food culture. This recipe also common in other communities region like Kurdish, Armenian, and Levantine but it’s considered a staple of Turkish national cuisine.

As Red lentils are cheap, protein-rich, and filling. Through wars during Anatolia and ottoman empire, yhey faced economic hardship, and long winters in Anatolia, tíhis soup was common and kept families fed.

This recipe is represents

• Turkish hospitality
• daily nourishment
• resourcefulness

In short a simple, affordable dish that brings people together . It represents how Turkish culture turns humble ingredients into comfort and community.

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Compare this dish with a similar meal from your own culture. What are the similarities and the difference?

There are some similarities and some differences between Turkish red lentil recipe and my local recipe.

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Differences

• In Turkish lentil recipe onions and garlic sautéed first then lentils are added whlie in our cusine lentil cooked first at the end garlic, cumin and sotey in oil then put over lentil.

• In Turkish cusine red lentils are cooked with gulbur, rice and sometimes with vegetable. In Pakistani cusine red lentil are cooked separately.

• In Turkey this recipe is eat with bread whlie we love to eat red lentils with boiled rice. Roti/ chapati/flat bread is used too.

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Similarities

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• In both cusine same spices are used to cook the lentil.

• After cooking, lentils are blended with hand blender in both cusine.

• At the end oil topping (tarka) is done to give it more silky texture that enhances its taste too.

List the prices of your ingredients in Steem and Your local currency. Present your dish beautifully with a name tag and selfie.

Ingredients	Price in Pkr	Price in Steem
Lentil (250g)	90	6
Tomato paste	40	2.66
Potatoe	15	1
Spices	15	1
Oil	50	3.3
Onion	10	0.6

^{Final Presentation with name tag}

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^selfi
poetic cultural cliche

If Turkey had a heartbeat, it would pulse in a pot of red lentils — Humble, warm, and shared.

Comments Links

1-https://steemit.com/hive-126193/@suboohi/te43xv

2-https://steemit.com/hive-126193/@suboohi/te44j0

3-https://steemit.com/hive-126193/@suboohi/te4lcz

That's all from my side and I have tried to compiled all the task given in the contest. At the end I would like to invite @roohiasif99, @sualeha and @max-pro for the contest. I hope you enjoyed while reading. Thanks for giving time to my post.

Best regards
@suboohi