yayla çorbası — Turkey

Yayla çorbası, literally 'highland soup', is a Turkish yogurt soup built on a base of rice cooked in broth and finished with whisked yogurt, giving it a smooth, tangy body. It is also known as yoğurtlu çorba, or yogurt soup, and is closely related to yogurt soups eaten across the wider Middle East. It is reported from across Turkey as a course served with meals, cooked with herbs such as mint, parsley or purslane depending on what is at hand, and sometimes with chickpeas added for body. Preparation starts with simmering rice in broth until soft, then whisking yogurt with a little flour or egg to stabilize it before adding it gradually to the hot broth off direct heat, stirring constantly so it does not curdle. The soup is warmed back through gently, finished with butter melted with dried mint and a pinch of red pepper poured over the top just before serving. What sets yayla çorbası apart from a plain yogurt drink or a clear broth soup is the way the yogurt is stabilized and folded into a hot rice broth without splitting, giving a soup that is both tangy and creamy rather than thin, a technique shared with related yogurt soups of the region such as the Iraqi boushala.