On a hot day, cold yogurt-cucumber soup, seasoned with dried mint
and maras biber Turkish pepper, is an easy, refreshing supper.
The mercury was nudging 102 yesterday.
The question du jour was: How not to cook for supper in the midst of a stultifying heat wave. Soon I found myself dreaming of the cacik I had at Turquoise last week. Tangy and subtly flavored with dried mint, this chilled yogurt and cucumber soup can be prepared in a food processor in just a few minutes. You don’t even have to go near the stove.
“Yogurt” is actually a Turkish word and, in some quarters, considered the country’s most famous contribution to world cuisine. In Turkey there are several soups made with yogurt, both hot and cold. Yayla Corbasi, for instance, is a warm restorative soup thickened with rice and a beaten egg. On the chilly side, there is a version of yogurt-cucumber soup with scallions, fresh mint and raisins in Claudia Roden’s New Book of Middle Eastern Cooking. All around the eastern Mediterranean chefs use yogurt as a cooking medium for lamb, chicken, eggplant and kibbeh (lamb and bulgur dumplings).
Turkish yogurt is like Greek yogurt—thick, creamy and very tangy. I can remember walking through the sun-baked streets of Nauplion years ago and inhaling the fresh, sour scent of yogurt being made in kitchens behind tightly closed shutters. Luckily Greek yogurt is widely available in this country. Look for the Total Fage brand at Whole Foods and at Greek or Middle Eastern food markets. If you can’t find it, try Roden’s idea of mixing plain whole milk yogurt with a little sour cream for richness.
This version of cacik is adapted from Turquoise. The original recipe calls for diced cucumbers. This creates a lot of crunch, which is nice when cacik is served as a sauce with grilled kebabs. But a soup should have a slightly smoother texture so I pulsed the cucumber in the food processor until it was finely chopped—and in fact, this is the way Kemal Cenki served it at his restaurant. At the end I couldn’t resist sprinkling the soup with a little of Kemal’s wondrous maras biber. This moist crushed red pepper from Turkey adds a touch of fiery heat to the cold, creamy soup—an untraditional, but tasty twist.
Cacik, or Chilled Turkish Soup with Yogurt, Cucumber and Dried Mint
Serves two for dinner or four as an appetizer
Ingredients:
2 cups Greek yogurt (see note)
1/4 to 1/2 cup cold water
2 medium cucumbers
2 cloves garlic
1-1/2 teaspoons dried mint
Salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon maras biber (optional) (see note)
Method:
1. In a large bowl, stir together the yogurt and 1/4 cup water until well mixed.
2. Peel the cucumbers and cut them in half vertically. Using a teaspoon, scoop out the seeds and discard. Coarsely chop the cucumbers and place them in the bowl of a food processor. Add the garlic. Pulse until both are finely chopped—but do not liquefy. The soup should have some texture.
3. Stir the cucumbers into the yogurt mixture. Add a little more water if necessary to achieve a soupy consistency. It should be fairly thick, but on the liquid side. Stir in the dried mint and salt to taste. Chill the soup in the refrigerator for two hours.
4. Just before serving, sprinkle with a little maras biber if desired. Or, for color without heat, sprinkle with sweet paprika.
Note: Fage Total Greek yogurt is available in Greek or Middle Eastern food shops and delicatessens, and also at Whole Foods. Maras biber can be ordered from www.kalustyans.com.