RICE AND YOGURT SOUP (Yayla Çorbası)

We have snow in Glasgow and it is very cold outside. In terms of weather, it is usually pretty miserable here, anyway. It either rains, storms or snows, sometimes all at the same time. It is important to keep ourselves warm from inside and this soup serves perfectly for this purpose. Delicious and nutritious, fits the color scheme outside too. I served it with red cabbage salad and tomatoes.

Ingredients:

• 200 g rice
• 250 g yogurt
• 1 egg
• Flour, 1 tablespoon
• Butter, 2 tablespoons
• Mint, 1 tablespoon
• Salt

Preparation:

• Wash the rice, add into a saucepan.
• Add 400 mL water, bring to boil and let it simmer on a medium heat until the rice absorb all the water.
• Just as a little bit of water remains, add 1,5 L of hot water, continue to cook on a medium heat.
• In a bowl, whisk yogurt, egg and flour thoroughly (use a mixer if you like) and add this to the saucepan very slowly by stirring all the time. This step is a bit tricky, make sure to stir all the time and also preferably to the same side (i.e. clockwise all the time) otherwise lumps appear in the soup.
• Continue cooking while stirring till it gets to boiling again.
• After it starts boiling, add salt and let it simmer for 15 minutes. (Do not add salt before it starts boiling. I'm sure there is a chemical explanation to this but not that I know.)
• In a separate pan, heat up the butter and mint and add to the saucepan, swirl.
• Cook for a further 5 min and enjoy your soup.