Mürdümük Soup (Mürdümük çorbası)
Overview
Mürdümük çorbası is a simple, earthy pulse soup from Muğla on the Aegean coast of Türkiye. It is made with mürdümük, the small, flat grass pea that has been grown in the dry hills of south-western Anatolia since ancient times. Chopped onion is fried golden in olive oil with tomato paste and ground red pepper, then the washed grass peas are stirred in and simmered in hot water until they soften and the broth turns thick and creamy. It is served hot, with a squeeze of bitter orange or lemon. The soup is naturally vegan and very cheap to make.
History
Grass peas are a hardy crop that grows where little else will, and they have long fed poor farming families around Muğla, Datça and the Bodrum peninsula. According to the Muğla culture office, the same peas are also boiled and mashed with olive oil, lemon and dill into a purée that people in Datça call pava. Today the soup is a symbol of the slow, olive oil based cooking of the Aegean.
Main ingredients
Grass peas (mürdümük), onion, tomato paste, red pepper, olive oil, lemon or bitter orange. The soup is built on water and is usually served hot. Diet: vegan; usually gluten-free.
Explore: Tomato soups · More soups from Türkiye
Recipe
Method
- 1
Fry the onion in the olive oil until golden.
- 22 min
Stir in the tomato paste, red pepper and drained grass peas and fry for 2 minutes.
- 350 min
Add the hot water and simmer for 50 minutes, stirring now and then, until the peas are soft and the soup is thick.
- 4
Season and serve hot with bitter orange or lemon.
- ✓
Serve. About 1h 10m from start to bowl.
Sources
Description, history and recipe written by SoupWiki and checked against the sources above. Calories and times are rough estimates.
