Hot yogurt and spinach soup (yayla çorbası)
This rich and creamy soup is inspired by the high mountain meadows in northern Turkey, where the country’s best dairy comes from. It’s incredibly simple, quick and comforting, and, as such, is on steady rotation at my house. To make sure the yogurt doesn’t split while you are cooking it, add it in stages and warm it up gently, and use the best-quality full-fat natural yogurt you can find. 35 MINUTES | SERVES 4 | EASY | LC
baldo or pudding rice 85g
chicken stock 1 litre, hot
full-fat natural yogurt 500g
egg yolk 1
cornflour 1½ tbsp
dried mint 1 tsp
spinach 200g, roughly chopped
ground white pepper TOPPING
salted butter 40g
dried mint 1½ tbsp
pul biber chilli flakes or other mild chilli flakes 1½ tsp
1 Rinse the rice under cold running water for a few minutes to wash out the starch, then put in a large pan. Pour in the hot stock, cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until the rice is cooked.
2 In a bowl, whisk together the yogurt, egg yolk, cornflour and 200ml of lukewarm water until smooth.
3 When the rice is cooked, take a ladleful of its cooking broth and add it to the cold yogurt mixture, whisking as you do so to warm it up. Then take the rice pan off the heat and, very slowly, half a ladleful at a time, spoon in the yogurt mixture, whisking all the time so it doesn’t split. Return the soup to a medium-low heat and add the mint and 1/2 tsp each of salt and white pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes until the soup has thickened.
4 Add the spinach and cook for a further 5 minutes, then taste to adjust the seasoning to your preference. In a separate small pan, melt the butter for the topping with the dried mint and pul biber.
5 When you are ready to serve, ladle the soup into warmed bowls, drizzle a couple of tsp of the chilli-mint butter over each portion and serve.
PER SERVING 338 kcals | fat 14.7G saturates 8.4G | carbs 32.8G | sugars 9.7G fibre 2.2G | protein 17.4G | salt 2.5G
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