Turkish Highland Meadow Soup (Yayla Çorbası) Recipe

Name: Turkish Highland Meadow Soup (Yayla Çorbası)
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 1/2 cup rice (or broken rice or substitute with 1 cup cooked plain rice); 3 cups water; 1 large egg yolk; 2 cups plain yogurt; 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour; 1 cup water; 1 teaspoon salt; Dash white pepper (or to taste); 2 tablespoons butter (or margarine); 2 tablespoons dried mint; Optional: 1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes; Garnish: 2 fresh mint sprigs

Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 15 mins

Total: 30 mins

Servings: 2 servings

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If you are a fan of plain yogurt, you'll be happy to discover this Turkish recipe for hot yogurt soup. Yayla çorbası (YAI'-lah chor-BAH'-suh), or highland meadow soup, is a popular Turkish soup that features plain yogurt, mint, and rice.

It's named after the yaylalar or high mountain meadows in the northern regions of Turkey where grazing is at its best and high-quality yogurt and dairy products abound. It's a good example of Turkish regional cuisine usually associated with the northern regions of Turkey along the Black Sea coast, but it's common all over the country.

When it's cooked just right, this soup is creamy and satisfying. 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.

It's not surprising. This soup is made with nutritious ingredients, has a mild, minty flavor, and is easy on the stomach. Try Turkish highland meadow soup and do something good for your body and your taste buds.

1/2 cup rice or broken rice, or substitute with 1 cup cooked plain rice
4 cups water, divided
1 large egg yolk
2 cups plain yogurt
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Dash white pepper, or to taste
2 tablespoons butter, or margarine
2 tablespoons dried mint
1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes, optional
2 fresh mint sprigs, for garnish

Gather the ingredients.
First, put rice in a covered saucepan with 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook rice until it softens.
In a separate bowl, beat egg, plain yogurt, flour, and 1 cup of water briskly with a wire whisk until well blended and creamy. Make sure you have no lumps of flour or yogurt.
Using your wire whisk, stir rice-water mixture and add yogurt-water mixture while gently whisking. Then, add salt and white pepper. Allow mixture to heat through until steaming. Continue whisking gently without letting the soup come to a boil. If soup becomes too thick for your liking, add a little more water.
In a separate pan, melt butter and add dried mint. Stir thoroughly and remove from heat quickly. Add butter and mint to soup and continue whisking until well combined. Garnish each bowl of soup with a sprig of fresh mint leaves.
If desired, you can also keep the butter and mint separate and drizzle it over the top of the soup just before serving. If you want to spice up your soup a little more, optionally add about 1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes to the butter along with the mint.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
392	Calories
20g	Fat
34g	Carbs
19g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 2
Amount per serving
Calories	392
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 20g	26%
Saturated Fat 11g	56%
Cholesterol 229mg	76%
Sodium 1372mg	60%
Total Carbohydrate 34g	13%
Dietary Fiber 1g	3%
Total Sugars 16g
Protein 19g
Vitamin C 2mg	9%
Calcium 487mg	37%
Iron 3mg	15%
Potassium 631mg	13%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.