Grandma's Recipe: Yogurt Soup

This week, I'd like to give you a delicious and meaningful soup recipe of my grandma. I'm saying meaningful because it has a story behind it. I'll start with the story.

In 1990s, my grandma went to Saudi Arabia to work as a cook for a Saudi prince. The reason of this migration is to be able to afford my father's wedding costs. She worked a year serving this Saudi prince in his kitchen. One day she made this yogurt soup for him and he liked it so much. Then the prince made this soup his favourite dish. Just before my grandma going back to Turkey, the prince called her and told her how he liked the soup. As a thank you gift, he paid for her expenses for pilgrimage duty to Mecca. Since the day, this soup has a precious meaning in our family.

I will share the recipe below and if you follow the recipe, you will get a thick, pure whitish soup. And texture will be silky smooth without lumps.

Ingredients:

• 200 ml plain greek yogurt

• 1 ea egg yolk

• 1 1/2 tbsp flour

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 30 g butter

• 1 L chicken stock

• 1 tbsp dried mint

• 1 tsp chilli powder

• Salt to taste

1. In a large bowl combine 200 ml plain greek yogurt, 1 egg yolk, and 1.5 tbsp flour . Mix well until it gets creamy.

2. On the other side, cook 2 cloves of garlic puree with 10 g butter in a pot.

3. Add 800 ml hot chicken stock to the pot, and then add 200 ml stock to your mixture slowly.

4. Slowly add the mixture into the pot.

5. Stir at medium flame until it boils.

6. After it boils, leave the pot at low flame for 20 mins.

7. Melt 20 g butter in a saucepan. And fry 1 tbsp of dried mint and 1 tsp of chilli powder in the saucepan. And pour it into your soup.

8. Add salt to taste.

I cooked this soup for my husband. This was not the first time for him trying yogurt soup. He really liked the texture. However, as a feedback, he said that he would prefer less butter and mint sauce.

For me, this soup experience was not challenging. What I did different before is that I used to add egg white into the mixture. But this time I excluded egg white from the recipe and had a better result. I guess, my grandma used the egg white for providing sustainability in the kitchen. Furthermore, I will reduce the butter and mint sauce for the future to get better result (You see the recipe with reduced butter). Nonetheless, I count myself succeeded on this recipe and feel happy to give you this delicious soup.