Brown Lentil Soup

Melbourne is a funny city in terms of weather. Temperature difference from one day to the other can be huge. Yesterday was a scorching 37.4 degrees, and today - 19 degrees! So I felt like some soup, and made this Turkish soup that is my father's favourite.

The original recipe uses eriste (semolina based Turkish egg noodles). I buy eriste from Turkish shops in Melbourne, although this soup can also be made with rice or risi bisi pasta.

1 brown onion, chopped
2 tablesp olive oil
1 teasp tomato paste
1 tablesp plain flour
4 cups of water or stock
1/2 cup of green lentils
2 tablesp of "eriste", rice or risi bisi
1/4 teasp salt
1/2 teasp dried mint
1/8 teasp sweet paprika

Lightly fry the brown onion in oil. Add the tomato paste, stir. Then stir in the plain flour until the onion pieces are well-coated. Add the water gradually. When it starts boiling, add the green lentils. Cook, stirring occasionally. When the lentils become tender, add in eriste (or `rice or risi bisi), and cook until the eriste is tender. Add salt, mint and paprika. Serve warm.