How to Make Turkish Cold Soup- Ayran Aşi

Full of nutrition and flavor Turkish cold soup is a refreshing and fulfilling vegetarian soup recipe that you should try. The classic soup recipe is known as ayran aşi in Turkey. Ayran is basically a type of buttermilk prepared by combining yogurt, water, and salt. It is a healthy diet option that can be prepared in an hour. So, let’s try a healthy alternative to soup this summer.

Ayran Aşi Cold Soup

Turkish Cold Soup Ingredients

• Cooked wheat berries 1 cup
• Canned chickpeas 1 cup
• Plain yogurt 1 cup
• Cold water 3 cups
• Salt to taste
• Mint for garnish
• Olive oil for garnish

Directions for Making Cold Soup

Soak Wheat Berries

Firstly, take a cup of wheat berries and soak them in water for 2 hours. You can soak them overnight for better results.

Cook Wheat Berries

Then in a cooking pot, put wheat berries along with five cups of water and let it cook for an hour or until well tender. You can use canned wheat berries to save time. Once they are done dish them out and keep them aside for later use in cold soup.

Pour Yogurt into Bowl

Secondly, for making ayran take one cup of plain yogurt into a wide bowl.

Whisk Yogurt

Then take a hand whisk and whisk the yogurt to make it smooth. Whisk for a minute so that there will be no lumps left behind.

Pour Water into Yogurt

Then pour three cups of cold water into the yogurt bowl and give it a good mix until well incorporated.

Add Canned Chickpeas

Now take a can of chickpeas and add one cup of canned chickpeas to the yogurt bowl. Don’t pour canned water along with chickpeas, otherwise, it will ruin the taste of yogurt cold soup.

Add Cooked Wheat Berries

Then add one cup of cooked wheat berries into the bowl, and mix them all together. Sprinkle salt in the yogurt bowl according to your taste.

Add Ice and Mint

Finally, add crushed ice into the bowl to make it a chill and refreshing soup. Then add mint leaves to it.

Garnish and Serve

Dish out soup in a small bowl. Then drizzle some olive oil and chili flakes on it. Refreshing and healthy cold yogurt soup is ready to enjoy.

Conclusion

The above recipe is a classic style Turkish cold soup recipe, however, you can make variations of cold soup recipes by following a basic recipe. You can make a cucumber and yogurt cold soup, or a beetroot cold soup. In the classic style recipe, you can substitute wheat with bulgur or couscous if you don’t have wheat berries. You can add flavors by adding cinnamon and turmeric powder into the cold soup.

References

Classic soup recipe from Turkish cuisine