Red Lentil Soup

The technical name of this soup is "Kermizi Mercimek Corbasi", but Red Lentil Soup sounds so much more approachable!  My husband and I ate a version of this a few weeks ago at a Turkish restaurant and it was divine.  I'm always looking for ways to cook with lentils as well.  I used green lentils when I made this and it tasted great, but perhaps red lentils would have made it look a little more appetizing?

Anyway, here it is.

1 cup red lentils
1 medium size onion
1 carrot
1 tbsp tomato or pepper paste (or you can do half&half)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp crushed pepper or red peppercorns - actually, that makes it quite spicy.  You'd be ok with 1/2. 
6 cups of chicken stock

for the sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil or butter
1 tbsp sweet or spicy paprika

-Sautee the onion and carrot with 1 tbsp oil for 3-4 minutes. Add the paste and cook for a couple of minutes, and add the rest of the soup ingredients.  Cook until lentils are mushy - maybe 20 minutes?

-Blend in a blender or, even better, with an immersion blender

-Before serving the soup, heat the oil in a skillet and when it's hot add the paprika. Stir for 5-10 seconds. Pour a couple of scoops of the oil+paprika sauce on the soup bowl. (This might be a nightmare with kids - you could skip this part if you like)

-Squeeze a little bit of lemon juice on top.