Whenever I feel sick or depressed, all I want to eat is soup. When I got (a mild) covid two weeks ago, I wanted to eat soup too. And this was one of the two soups that I ate (the other was “ezogelin” soup).

This soup is so easy and fast to make that you’ll be amazed. And there is really not much trick to it either – just a couple of tips in the recipe section below. This is a very traditional Turkish recipe. I saw the original recipe on a Turkish Youtube channel, but I changed it a little to use orzo.

Orzo is a type of rice-shaped small size pasta. I’m not sure if you can use other types of pasta for this soup if you can’t find orzo. The measurements in this recipe will yield quite a few servings, so there will be leftover soup. Orzo does not get too soft when you reheat the leftover soup, but I’m not sure if other kinds of pasta will keep their shape that good. If you want, you can try and see it! And let me know if you try it!
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Ingredients:

Difficulty: Easy
(serves 6-8)

Printable PDF-recipe (no photos)

2 1/4 litres (or 9 cups) of water at room temperature*
1 cube of vegetable stock
2 dl (or 13 tbsp + 1 tsp or 150 gr) orzo
3 dl + 5 tbsp (or 1 1/2 cups or 380 gr) yoghurt
1 egg
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
4 tbsp olive/vegetable oil
3 tbsp dried mint (if you like mint a lot, you can increase it up to 4 tbsp)
salt to taste

Optional (not in this version):
add 1-2 cans of cooked brown lentils to make it even more filling

*You can also use vegetable broth. Obviously, there won’t be any need for a vegetable stock cube in that case.

Note: I’m using the conversion chart in this link for the measurements.

1. In a large pot, put water and vegetable stock cube (if using) on medium-high heat and bring it to a boil.

2. Add orzo and cook it for 10 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent orzo from sticking to the bottom of the pot and each other.

3. While orzo is cooking, put yoghurt, egg and flour in a medium bowl and whisk well.

4. After cooking orzo for 10 minutes, take 2 ladles of orzo water and add it to the yoghurt mixture. Immediately whisk well. This step is essential; it helps keep the yoghurt mix well with the rest of the soup, so don’t skip it.

5. Pour the yoghurt mixture back into the pot and stir. Lower the heat to medium and let the soup continue cooking.

6. While the soup is cooking, put olive oil in a small saucepan and put it on medium heat. Let the oil warm up for 30 seconds, and then add the mint. Stir just until all the mint is covered with oil.

7. Add the heated mint-oil mixture into the soup and stir. Cook for 5 more minutes on medium heat.

8. At the end of five minutes, add salt to taste and stir a little. Cook for 1-2 more minutes, then turn off the heat. Cover the pot, let the soup rest for 10 minutes, and then serve. Enjoy!