Turkish Mom Veggie Soup (Sehriye Corbasi :)

Yes, I'm in a cooking phase it looks like :) Here's one of my favorite soups, it's a common mom soup in Turkey and below is the recipe from my mom:

1 onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 green bell pepper (if you want it spicy, use jalapeno or european peppers)
4 tomatoes (or use a can of diced)
1 small can of tomato paste
1 glass of water
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Cook all the above in a pot, when the veggies are soft, add 5-6 cups of water (depending on your pot size). Let it boil. When boiled, use a hand blender to mix everything. Add salt, black pepper, red pepper and dry oregano.

Then add 1 cup of what we call 'tel sehriye' in Turkish. You can find some here. You can also use orzo in its place.

Let everything cook for 3-4 minutes.

In a separate bowl, mix 1 egg with the juice of a lemon. Blend them as well, if you don't have a hand blender, my mom says you should strain it with a strainer. Last thing is to turn the heat off and add this mixture to the soup. Don't worry, the soup is hot enough to cook the egg and this will add an unbelievable flavor to the whole mix!

If I have some handy, I also like adding some fresh mint as I did today. If you don't you can add dried mint together with the other herbs!

Love it, savor it, enjoy it!
:)
Damla