AI-generated image
Tarhana çorbası
Tarhana çorbası: tangy soup of dried, fermented yoghurt-and-vegetable tarhana
Late every summer, women across Central Anatolia, from Uşak to Konya and Sivas, ferment a dough of yoghurt, flour, tomatoes, peppers and onion, dry it on cloths in the sun and rub it into crumbs. All winter that tarhana becomes a quick, warming soup with a gentle sourness and the sweetness of sun-dried pepper. It is breakfast in villages, a cure for colds in cities, and is eaten with bread and a squeeze of lemon. Common mistake: tipping dry tarhana straight into hot liquid, which forms stubborn lumps; soak it in cold water first. Chef's tip: finish with a spoon of butter sizzled with dried mint and chilli flakes drizzled over each bowl; it lifts the whole soup.
- Total time
- 30 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the mint butter
Shop this recipe on Amazon
Spices & pantry
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Stir 3 ½ oz dried tarhana powder into 1 cup cold water in a bowl and leave for 10 minutes, until it softens into a thick, smooth paste.
10 minStep 2: Melt ⅔ oz butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir in 1 tbsp tomato paste and 1 tsp Turkish red pepper paste and cook 1 minute, until they darken.
1 minStep 3: Pour in 4 ¼ cups hot vegetable stock or water, then whisk in the tarhana paste. Keep whisking as it comes to the boil.
Step 4: Simmer over a low heat for 12–15 minutes, stirring often so it doesn't catch, until the soup is creamy and coats a spoon. Add ½ tsp salt to taste; tarhana itself is salty, so taste first.
15 minStep 5: Melt ⅞ oz butter in a small pan until foaming, take off the heat and stir in 1 tsp dried mint and ½ tsp Turkish chilli flakes (pul biber). Drizzle over each bowl and serve.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 190 kcal
- Protein
- 5 g
- Carbs
- 23 g
- Fat
- 10 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does tarhana çorbası take?
- About 30 minutes in total: 10 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of butter?
- The same weight of ghee or coconut oil (for frying and most baking).
- What can I use instead of butter?
- The same weight of ghee or coconut oil (for frying and most baking).
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Soto Banjar
Along the rivers of Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan, breakfast often means soto Banjar eaten at a wooden riverside warung, sometimes after a dawn trip to the floating market. Unlike the turmeric sotos of Java, this broth is pale and clear, perfumed with the sweet spices that traders brought up the river centuries ago: cinnamon, cloves, star anise, cardamom and nutmeg. Shredded chicken, glass noodles, carrot and a boiled egg go into the bowl with rice cakes, and lime and a little chilli sharpen it at the table. Chef's tip: toast the whole spices in the pan for a minute before the paste goes in; it brings out their sweetness without the dusty edge of ground spice.
Indonesian
Sopa da pedra
Almeirim, a market town in the Ribatejo, is the capital of this soup; its restaurants serve it every day, and each bowl arrives with a clean stone at the bottom, after the folk tale of a friar who 'made soup from a stone' by talking villagers into giving him everything else. This is a pork soup: red kidney beans simmer with chouriço, morcela blood sausage and a piece of pork belly, then potatoes, carrots and coriander finish it into a thick, hearty bowl. Chef's tip: cook the sausages whole and slice them at the end, so they stay juicy and don't turn the broth greasy.
Portuguese
Miso soup
Miso soup (味噌汁) is drunk every day in homes all over Japan, at breakfast as well as dinner, beside a bowl of rice. The base is dashi; this vegan version uses kombu and dried shiitake instead of bonito, which gives it a deep, rounded flavour. Silken tofu and wakame seaweed are the classic fillings. It takes ten minutes; just remember not to boil the miso. Chef's tip: add the miso at the very end and never let it boil. Boiling kills the miso's fresh, fermented aroma; Japanese cooks say the soup should only 'smile', with the surface barely trembling.
Japanese