Çankırı-Style Tutmaç Soup with Lentils and Yogurt
Çankırı’s geographically protected tutmaç soup pairs small pieces of dough and lentils in a garlicky yogurt broth with a buttery ground beef topping. This four-serving home adaptation uses short dried egg noodles in place of hand-rolled tutmaç and plain precooked green lentils. Drain the cooked lentils before weighing them. For another yogurt-based soup, try Kilis-style lebeniye. Sources and a related soupKilis-style lebeniye soup · Türkiye Culture Portal: Çankırı tutmaç soup · TÜRKPATENT: Çankırı Tutmaç Soup registration · FDA: Safe internal temperatures
Ingredients
Ingredients
Step-by-Step Method
Prepare the noodles
Break 60 g of dried noodles into pieces about 1 cm long if needed. Crush 6 g of garlic and whisk it into 250 g of yogurt until smooth.
Cook the noodles and lentils
Bring 900 g of water to a boil in a pot and add 5 g of salt and the noodles. Simmer over medium heat. As the noodles start to soften, add 220 g of drained cooked lentils. Turn off the heat when the noodles are tender in the center, about 8–12 minutes depending on their thickness.
Make the beef topping
While the noodles cook, melt 25 g of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add 100 g of ground beef and cook, breaking up large clumps with a spoon. Gather the beef into a mound and check that it reaches at least 71°C with a clean food thermometer. Take the pan off the heat and stir in 2 g of sweet paprika and 1 g of dried mint.
Temper the yogurt and serve
Once the soup stops bubbling, gradually whisk about 2 small ladlefuls of hot broth into the yogurt. Slowly stir the warmed yogurt into the pot off the heat. Divide the soup among 4 bowls and spoon the hot beef topping over each one.
Chef's Tips & Tricks
Why does the yogurt turn grainy? Adding it to a boiling pot can make it curdle. Warm it first with a little hot broth and stir it in off the heat. The API calculates nutrition from the ingredients. Evaporation and gaps in the catalog make per-serving figures approximate.