Tarhana

Ingredients

Vegetable base

• 1 kgred peppers, deseeded
• 1 kgtomatoes
• 500 gonions
• 2hot red peppers
• 3 tbspolive oil
• 2 tbspsalt

Souring

• 1 kgthick sheep’s or cow’s yoghurt
• 20 gfresh yeast, or 7 g dried
• 1large bunch mint, chopped
• 1 bunchdill, chopped

Flour

• 1.5to 2 kg plain flour, roughly

To make the soup

• 4 tbsptarhana flakes per 500 ml water or stock
• butter, tomato purée, dried mint, chilli flakes

Directions

1. Chop the peppers, tomatoes and onions, cook them in the olive oil with the salt for 40 minutes until completely soft, then blend to a purée and cool to lukewarm.
2. Mix in the yoghurt, yeast and chopped herbs, then work in flour a handful at a time until you have a soft dough that just holds together — softer than bread dough.
3. The exact flour quantity cannot be given. It depends entirely on how watery your vegetables were, so go by feel and stop when it stops sticking to the bowl.
4. Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave it at room temperature for five to seven days, kneading it once a day for a few minutes.
5. That daily kneading is the whole method. It redistributes the ferment and knocks back the gas, and a batch left alone for a week sours unevenly and goes mouldy at the surface.
6. It will rise, smell sharply sour and slightly alcoholic, and darken. That is correct.
7. When it tastes properly sour, crumble the dough into small pieces and spread it thinly on cloths in the sun.
8. Dry for two to three days, breaking up the lumps and turning the pieces several times a day, until they are bone dry and snap rather than bend.
9. Rub the dried pieces through a coarse sieve to make flakes, then store in cloth bags or jars in a dry cupboard. Properly dried, it keeps a year or more.
10. For soup, whisk four tablespoons of flakes into 500 ml of cold water, bring slowly to a simmer whisking constantly, and cook 15 minutes. Finish with butter fried with dried mint and chilli flakes.

Technique

• Knead it daily through the week. This is not optional.
• Bone dry before storing. Anything less and the bag moulds.
• Start the soup in cold water and whisk as it heats, or it goes lumpy.

Substitutions

• An oven at 50°C (120°F) with the door ajar in place of sun.
• Wheat flour and yoghurt only, with no vegetables, which is the plainer eastern version.
• Kishk, the Levantine bulgur-and-yoghurt equivalent, made the same way.

Variations

• Beyaz tarhana, made with yoghurt and flour alone and left pale.
• The Greek trahana, Bulgarian trahana and Cypriot trachanas are the same preserve.

History

Village method for storing summer yoghurt and vegetables through winter; related trahana and tarhonya forms exist across the Balkans and Levant.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tarhana?

Tarhana is a fermented & pickled from Turkey: yoghurt, flour and vegetables fermented then sun-dried into flakes, cooked as soup. Village method for storing summer yoghurt and vegetables through winter; related trahana and tarhonya forms exist across the Balkans and Levant.

How long does Tarhana take to make?

Tarhana takes 1 hour plus 5 to 7 days souring and 3 days drying of preparation and 40 min of cooking. The recipe makes makes about 1.5 kg of dried flakes. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Tarhana?

Yes, within limits. An oven at 50°C (120°F) with the door ajar in place of sun. Wheat flour and yoghurt only, with no vegetables, which is the plainer eastern version. Kishk, the Levantine bulgur-and-yoghurt equivalent, made the same way.

What is the most important thing to get right in Tarhana?

That daily kneading is the whole method. It redistributes the ferment and knocks back the gas, and a batch left alone for a week sours unevenly and goes mouldy at the surface.