Turkish · soup

Tarhana Çorbası (Fermented Wheat and Yoghurt Soup)

Tarhana Çorbası (Fermented Wheat and Yoghurt Soup) reads umami 7.4, richness 6.7 and salinity 5.0 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Turkish soup, about 1 hr. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 7.4 · Richness 6.7 · Salinity 5.0 · Allium 3.6 · Sourness 3.0 · Fruity 2.7 · Herbaceous 2.7 · Sweetness 2.6 · Funk & Ferment 1.9 · Floral 1.3 · Heat 1.2 · Citrus 1.1 · Nutty 1.0 · Bitterness 1.0 · Earthy 0.9 · Warm Spice 0.8

What's in it (11)

Time & effort: about 1 hr (27 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 39.7 kcal, 2.3 g protein, 2.8 g fat, 5.1 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains dairy — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

  1. Crumble the tarhana into 300 ml of the cold stock and leave it to soak for 30 minutes, whisking once or twice. Tarhana is wheat and yoghurt fermented together and sun-dried, so it is already sour and already savoury; soaking cold stops it seizing into lumps. Buy it from a Turkish grocer — Uşak tarhana is the benchmark.
  2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, add the crushed garlic and cook 30 seconds until fragrant, then stir in the pepper paste and cook 1 minute until it darkens and the butter runs red.
  3. Add the grated tomato and cook 4 minutes until the raw smell goes and the mixture thickens.
  4. Whisk in the soaked tarhana with the remaining 700 ml stock, bring slowly to a simmer, and cook 20 minutes on low, stirring often with a whisk. It thickens as it goes; if it gets stodgy, loosen with hot water. Season with the salt near the end — tarhana varies a lot in saltiness and you cannot take it back out.
  5. Fry the bread cubes in half the olive oil over medium-high heat for 3 minutes until crisp and gold, and drain.
  6. Warm the remaining olive oil with the Maraş flakes and the dried mint for 20 seconds off the heat, until it turns red and smells of mint.
  7. Ladle the soup into bowls, drizzle over the chilli-mint oil and scatter with the croutons. It should be soft, sour and comforting, somewhere between a soup and a porridge.
  8. Substitutions: water can stand in for the litre light chicken stock.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.