Tanabour (Armenian yogurt & barley soup)

2 hr cook time

Ingredients

  • 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
  • 1 onion chopped fine
  • 1 tsp dried mint
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • Pinch baking soda
  • ¾ c pearl barley
  • 4 c vegetable broth
  • 2 c water
  • 1½ c plain greek yogurt
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • ¼ c chopped cilantro, divided
  • 1 tsp ground dried Aleppo pepper

Instructions

  1. Melt 2 Tbs butter over low/med in large saucepan. Add onion, mint, salt, pepper, baking soda.
  2. Cook 6-8 min until onion broken down into paste.
  3. Stir in barley, cook 3 min until edges translucent. Stir constantly.
  4. Add broth & water, put heat to high & bring to boil.
  5. Lower heat to simmer, partially cover. cook 1 hour until barley tender.
  6. Whisk egg yolk & yogurt in larger bowl
  7. Add 2 c. barley mixture to yogurt bowl, whisk ferociously.
  8. Return to saucepan, cover, let sit 10 min to thicken.
  9. Heat soup over med, stirring occasionally until temp gets to 180-185 (need thermometer). Don't let boil or yogurt will curdle.
  10. Remove from heat, add hot water as needed to get buttermilk consistency. Stir in 2 Tbsp cilantro. Salt to taste
  11. Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in 8" skillet over med heat. remove from heat, stir in Aleppo.
  12. Add soup to bowls, drizzle with Aleppo butter, and top with cilantro. Voila!

Notes:

* I just used salted butter and skipped adding salt. It was salty enough since Better than Bouillon is so salty.

* Only use dried mint, not fresh

* Don't use nonfat yogurt

* Can sub parsley for cilantro

* Can sub 1 tsp paprika + pinch of cayenne for Aleppo

ATK The New Vegetarian pg 166