Creamy Yogurt Soup

AZ Cookbook | Creamy Yogurt Soup
Yogurt is widely used in Azerbaijani kitchen. Yogurt soups are especially popular. Some chilled, some warm. There is yogurt soup with fresh herbs, chickpeas and small meatballs, there is chilled yogurt soup with cucumber and there is this wonderful soup called Kelekosh we are going to make today. Honestly, I don’t remember eating Kelekosh in Azerbaijan. I only read about the soup here and there, and thought it was one of those forgotten dishes, or I don’t know what else.

All until I saw the recipe, quite by accident, in an old issue of a women’s magazine that traveled all the way to LA in the plane with my mom. Kelekosh hunted me down.  I decided I should make it and I am glad I did so.

The soup is delicious. Some of my American friends tried it and liked it a lot. Pick a creamy yogurt. Do not give up on stirring, this is very important. And do not overcook, or the soup will be too creamy and get darker in color (that’s what walnuts do). Serve Kelekosh with chunks of fresh bread. enjoy!

CREAMY YOGURT SOUP WITH WALNUTS, GARLIC AND MINT / KELEKOSH

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

3 cups thick and creamy plain yogurt
1 ½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 egg
3 cups water
1 tablespoon medium or long grain rice, picked over and rinsed
½ cup walnuts, finely chopped
2 gloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 ½ tablespoons dried mint
2 tablespoons butter or oil (vegetable, corn, or sunflower)
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
¼-teaspoon ground pepper

1. In a mixing bowl, combine yogurt and flour and mix well with spoon.

AZ Cookbook | Creamy Yogurt Soup - Yogurt Flour

AZ Cookbook | Creamy Yogurt Soup – Yogurt Flour

2. Add egg and beat well, then pour in water and mix.

AZ Cookbook | Creamy Yogurt Soup - Egg

AZ Cookbook | Creamy Yogurt Soup – Egg

3. Toss in rice, walnuts, garlic and mint and stir the mixture until well blended.

AZ Cookbook | Creamy Yogurt Soup - Walnuts

AZ Cookbook | Creamy Yogurt Soup – Walnuts

AZ Cookbook | Creamy Yogurt Soup - Mint

AZ Cookbook | Creamy Yogurt Soup – Mint

4. In a medium non-stick saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add onions and sauté for about 5 minutes or until translucent.

AZ Cookbook | Creamy Yogurt Soup - Onion

AZ Cookbook | Creamy Yogurt Soup – Onion

5. Add yogurt mixture into the pan with onions. Keep the heat on medium and cook the soup, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for about 20 minutes, or until the rice is soft.

AZ Cookbook | Creamy Yogurt Soup - Stir

AZ Cookbook | Creamy Yogurt Soup – Onion

6. Cooked soup will be creamy and smooth in consistency. Remove from heat. Add salt and pepper, and mix well. Adjust seasoning, if necessary. Ladle the soup into serving bowls and garnish with dried mint, if desired.

30 Comments

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  1. Dear Farida,

    Thank you so much for these great recipes! They all look so delicious and I am sure they must taste accordingly! I will soon try out your version of the creamy yogurt soup.

    I am sure your cookbook will be a huge success!

    Take care,

    Ayse

  2. My dearest friend Ayse. Thank you for your comment. This soup is more or less like Turkish Yayla sorbasi, with Azerbaijani touch. Hope you like it!

  3. Farida,

    I am definitely trying this soup! Did you use French or Greek yogurt? Can I use lowfat if I use French since it’s very creamy if I am not wrong on that?

    This blog is great! Anything sweet?

    Love,

    Asli

  4. Asli, I bought this Creamy Yogurt from Trader Joe’s. I think the brand is French Village. As long as it is creamy, you can use low-fat, although I don’t understand how low-fat can still be creamy:)) I think any brand creamy yogurt will go. Sweet stuff is coming too! Stay tuned:)q

  5. This looks fab! I’ll make sure to get some extra yogurt next time I’m at the store. Makes me want to learn more about Azeri food in general!

  6. Parsnipsaplenty, thanks for visiting my blog! I read you live in Bulgaria now. It’s interesting, when I made this soup for the first time in my life, our good Bulgarian friend Ava was over and she loved it and said Bulgarians like yogurt:) So, it could be something you could experiment with! Cheers to Bulgaria!

  7. Bulgarians do love yogurt. So much so, in fact, that when you go to the shop and ask for milk, the shopkeeper will ask if you want “fresh milk” or “sour milk”, the latter being yogurt. We have a soup not dissimilar to kelekosh, called tarator. I’m pretty sure it’s all over the Balkans. Cheers to Azerbaijan!

  8. Thank you so much for these great recipes! They all look so delicious, I am sure your cookbook will be a great success. if its possible take your image. Cheers to Azerbaijan
    love
    chavoshi

  9. Abbas, welcome to my blog. Glad you like it here. Thanks for your nice words. Stay tuned for more recipes:) Cheers to wherever you are:)

  10. Hi, it is great blog, I am Persian, “Kalehjoosh” or “kalajosh” is a traditional Persian meal which is made with “kashk” .Kashk is similar to yogurt but it is different and very delicious. You can find it in Persian Grocery shops in L.A. or other Countries.

  11. ROSHANAK: Welcome to my foodie world! Azerbaijani and Persian foods share a lot in common, and no wonder they share the same soup too:) I am familiar with Kashk. My Iranian friends make kashk-e-bademjan with it and I simply love it. Thanks again for stopping by. Please do come again.

  12. i love yogurt very much.. definitely gonna try this soup.. yumm!! look delish 🙂 nice picture

  13. i think it’ a version of Armeniam tanov soup. Same ingredients no walnuts

  14. Sure beats burger king.

  15. Feride, ne vaxt kitabini ala bilerik ve harada ?

    Sebrim qalmayib daha, bele dadli yemeklerin dadina baxmaq isteyirem…

  16. I have never ever heard about this soup in Baku, but I tried it and now can’t stop making it :))) My family loves yogurt and I always have it in my fridge, so whenever I’m in a mood for yogurt soup, that’s THE one to make ! You should post the recipe of “dovga” as well, I think whoever tried Kelekosh will love “dovga” too. It just needs a little bit more time but the result is great !
    Thank you !

  17. Hi, this recipe looks very much like the one I used to eat back home which gies by the name ”DOGA” (‘g’ slightly disappears).

    It’s a yoghurt-y-kind of soup with tons of diff herbs and chick peas I believe u’ve mentioned that too.

    It’s a bsolutely tasty but we do not use any eggs or nuts!

    Cheers!

  18. I want to try this – I make at least two quarts of yogurt every week, and just bought some dried mint! Maybe I’ll skip the walnuts though – not my favorite. I know I am going to LOVE this.
    Like you, I never had it back home and frankly didn’t know it existed!

    Once again, an all-text-in-one-place version would be very convenient here – I could just copy paste it into textedit and print it this way.

  19. Re yogurt – lowfat yogurt is creamy because of pectin I’ll betcha. Homemade I think is the best, and is easy to make.

  20. Could you give me a Iranian cook site.
    Thank you

  21. Hi everyone!

    Thanks for the creators of this site. I’m so glad to get such a wonderful site. Because I do want to learn a new recipes and make my family eat tasty meals)))

    Kindest regards
    Samira

  22. Farida khanim, thanks for another interesting recipe. I might be mistaken but looks like this recipe and one of your pictures were posted on http://legend.az/15837-kelekos.html without proper indication of the source and copyright.

  23. NATAVAN – Thank you for the link. They have never requested the recipes. There are a lot of sites like this out there – they think it is ok to just put their own logo on somebody else’s work and not to give any proper credit.

  24. MNE 57 LET,NO DO SIX POR OB ETOM BLYUDE YA NE SLIWALA I NE YELA,NO MOJNO POPROBOVAT,DOLJNO BIT VKUSNO.

  25. Hi,
    I though original Azeri Keleosh was made with kashk not yoghurt?
    Any comments?

  26. SIMIN – I am not sure. Could be. This particular one is made with yogurt. Perhaps in the regions of Nakhchivan it is made with gurut (kashk is a Farsi word for it I think).

  27. Hi Farida, thank you for such a wonderful recipe! It kind of reminds of Dogma. Is it similar?

  28. I am sorry, I meant Dogva

  29. POLA – Yes, it is somewhat similar to dovgha but because fresh herbs are used in dovgha, the taste is different.

  30. ???????!

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