Merji shorbasi (red lentil soup)
A smooth purée soup of red lentils, onion and potato, cooked in Azerbaijani homes every week.
Well-cooked hot dish
Ingredients
- red lentils
- onion
- carrot
- potato
- butter
- dried mint
- salt
- water or stock
How it is prepared
The lentils are rinsed, simmered with the vegetables for 30–40 minutes until soft, blended, then finished with onion fried in butter and dried mint.
Food safety with low immunity
How to prepare it during treatment
Serve freshly cooked and hot. With mouth sores skip lemon and chilli; cool leftovers quickly and eat them within a day.
Your diet during treatment is agreed with your doctor. Sample 7-day menu for the treatment period →
Storage
Cool quickly (within 2 hours), refrigerate in shallow containers and eat within 1–2 days; with low counts many teams advise 24 hours. You can freeze portions.
Reheating
Reheat only once — bring to the boil, stirring. It should be steaming hot, not just warm.
Symptoms it may suit
- Nausea. Mild and not too greasy; can be eaten in small portions, warm or at room temperature.
- Mouth sores. Soft and moist; easier to eat without spicy or sour additions.
- Constipation. Fibre (pulses, vegetables, grains) may help with constipation — together with enough fluids.
- Low appetite. Gives a lot of energy and protein in a small portion — can help when appetite is low.
These are general observations: what suits you can change from day to day.
Treatment phases
- Before treatmentmay suit
- During a coursemay suit
- Low counts (neutropenia)Freshly cooked and hotmay suit
- Between coursesmay suit
- After treatmentmay suit
Phase notes are general. During low counts, follow only your care team’s food rules.
If you have other conditions
- Stomach and gut. High in fibre. With bowel inflammation, diarrhoea or after bowel surgery, discuss suitability with your team.
- Kidney disease. Can be a source of potassium (tomato, potato, pulses, dried fruit). With kidney disease, discuss potassium limits with your team.
- Stomach and gut, Lung disease. Pulses or cabbage can cause wind and bloating; keep this in mind with digestive or lung conditions (bloating can make breathing harder).
Nutrition (per 100 g)
Nutrition figures from a reliable source have not been added for this dish yet.
More from this cuisine
- Plov (saffron rice)
- Dolma (stuffed vine leaves)
- Dushbara (dumpling soup)
- Piti (lamb and chickpea stew)
- Qutab (thin filled flatbread)
- Dovga (yoghurt and herb soup)
- Kuku (herb frittata)
- Lavangi (walnut-stuffed chicken)
- Toyug shorbasi (chicken soup with noodles)
- Kufta bozbash (meatball and chickpea soup)
- Khash (slow-boiled trotter broth)
- Khingal (dough squares with fried mince)
- Kalam dolmasi (stuffed cabbage leaves)
- Uch baji dolmasi (stuffed aubergine, pepper and tomato)
- Shah plov (crown plov baked in lavash)
- Shuyud plov (dill and broad bean plov)
- Fisinjan plov (meatballs in walnut-pomegranate sauce)
- Sabzi govurma (lamb stewed with herbs)
- Turshu govurma (sweet-sour lamb with dried fruit)
- Lula kebab (minced lamb kebab)
- Tika kebab (lamb chunk kebab)
- Nara kababi (sturgeon kebab)
- Saj ichi (meat and vegetables cooked on a saj)
- Toyug bozartmasi (chicken stewed with onion and tomato)
- Toyug chighirtmasi (chicken with eggs)
- Jiz-biz (lamb offal fry with potatoes)
- Pomidor-yumurta (eggs scrambled with tomatoes)
- Sudlu siyig (milk rice porridge)
- Choban salad (shepherd salad)
- Motal cheese (skin-ripened sheep cheese)
- Ayran (salted yoghurt drink)
- Shekerbura (walnut-filled pastry)
- Pakhlava (Baku layered walnut pastry)
- Firni (rice-flour milk pudding)
- Dried fruit kompot
- Tandir bread
Related topics
Food safetyNeutropenic diet (low-microbial diet)PasteurisedCore cooking temperatureLeftoversCross-contamination
Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Safer Food Choices for People With Weakened Immune Systems
- FoodSafety.gov (U.S. HHS). Cook to a Safe Minimum Internal Temperature
- USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. Leftovers and Food Safety
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Food Safety for Older Adults and People with Cancer, Diabetes, HIV/AIDS, Organ Transplants, and Autoimmune Diseases
- Food Standards Agency (UK). Chilling
- World Health Organization (WHO). Five keys to safer food manual
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Food Safety During Cancer Treatment
- National Cancer Institute (NCI). Eating Hints: Before, during, and after Cancer Treatment
- BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care, 2019. Neutropenic diets to prevent cancer infections: updated systematic review and meta-analysis
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). FoodData Central — Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS)