Turkish Yoghurt Soup (Yayla Çorbası) with Chickpeas

Turkish yoghurt soup is the perfect option for a light meal. Yayla çorbası (YAI’-lah chor-BAH’-suh), or highland meadow soup, is a popular Turkish soup that features plain yoghurt, mint, chickpeas and rice. Like other Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines, yoghurt is a frequently used ingredient in Turkish cuisine.

When it’s cooked just right, this soup is creamy and satisfying. The rice thickens the soup, along with the yoghurt, and chickpeas give a perfect toothy bite to each spoonful. It’s the perfect comfort food. Serve it at casual meals or when you have leftover plain rice from the night before.

In Turkey, this recipe is considered a good choice if you’re fighting a cold, much like chicken soup, or if you’re recovering from an illness or surgery. It even appears on hospital menus.

INGREDIENTS

• ½ cup long grain rice 
• 1 cup dried chickpeas
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 cup thick plain yoghurt (I’m making my own yoghurt but Greek yoghurt would be easy to find.Keep the yoghurt in room temperature before start cooking)
• 1 large egg yolk (room temperature)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp dried mint
• 1 tsp salt
• 5 cups water
• Red pepper flakes to taste
• Lemon juice to taste

METHOD

1. Soak chickpeas overnight to soften.
2. Cook chickpeas in a pot of water for about 40 minutes to an hour, until tender. Drain and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, wash the rice well to remove excess starch.
4. Put the rice in a covered saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and cook the rice until it softens.
5. In a separate bowl, beat the egg, plain yoghurt and flour briskly with a wire whisk until well blended and creamy
6. Using a ladle, slowly add about 1 cup of the water from the rice pan to the yoghurt mixture to match their temperature. Stir well after each addition and make sure you have no lumps of flour or yoghurt.
7. Add the drained chickpeas to the rice pan then add the yoghurt mixture. Stir well, turn the heat to medium and bring to a low simmer.
8. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
9. In a small pan, heat butter and olive oil until it sizzles. Sauté the dried mint and red pepper flakes for about 30 seconds.
10. Pour sauteed mint and add salt into soup. Stir well. 

NOTES

You may need to add more water depending on the rice and how thick you would like the soup to be.

Serve warm with 2-3 drops of lemon juice

You can decorate with extra dried mint and pepper flakes.