Yayla Çorbası, Turkish Yogurt and Rice Soup
Yayla çorbası means "highland soup," named for the summer pastures where herders thin their yogurt into something warm and restorative. It is one of the foundational soups of Turkish home cooking: yogurt, rice or sometimes barley, and a hard hit of dried mint at the end. The technical hurdle is always the yogurt, which curdles if it boils or if it meets high heat too fast. The traditional fix is a beaten egg whisked into the yogurt as a stabilizer, and the finishing mint is usually bloomed in melted butter. This version keeps both the egg and the butter out: a spoonful of cornstarch stabilizes the plant yogurt, careful tempering protects it, and the mint blooms in the soup's own heat off the stove. What sodium there is comes from the yogurt itself, so no salt is added. Serve it hot, with more dried mint crushed over the top if you like.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup short grain brown rice, rinsed
- 1 tbsp no-salt vegetable bouillon
- 1 1/2 cups Plain plant yogurt
- 1 tbsp Cornstarch
- 1 clove Garlic, grated
- 1 tbsp Dried mint
- 1/4 tsp Black peppercorns, freshly ground
Method
- Simmer the rice in 5 cups (1.2 L) water with the bouillon until it is very soft and beginning to break down, about 30 minutes. Cooking the rice past tender, not just to tender, lets some of its starch thicken the broth so the soup has body before any yogurt goes in.
- Whisk the yogurt with the cornstarch and grated garlic until completely smooth. The cornstarch is a stabilizer, standing in for the beaten egg that traditionally keeps the yogurt from splitting when it hits the hot pot.
- Temper the yogurt: ladle a cup of the hot broth into the yogurt in a thin stream while whisking, then a second cup. Warming the yogurt gradually is what stops it from curdling into grains the moment it meets the heat.
- Pour the tempered yogurt back into the pot and warm it gently over low heat, stirring in one direction, until it steams and thickens. Do not let it boil, since a hard boil breaks even a stabilized yogurt.
- Take the pot off the heat and stir in the dried mint and black pepper. Blooming the mint in the residual heat rather than boiling it keeps its aroma bright, the finishing note the soup is named for.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 140 calories, 6 g protein, 3 g fiber, 110 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
