Terbiye is an egg and lemon sauce with yogurt and used for binding soups and some stews in Turkey. As well the word is used for various marination techniques for meat, fish, vegetables. This soup is often cooked with orzo pasta for thickening soup. But I made it with a simple roux – flour butter base instead. And adding yogurt to the egg-lemon sauce doubles the tanginess and the spiced butter my final zingy touch in the end.
When I was living in Istanbul, I used to enjoy eating terbiyeli chicken soup in lokantas – tradesmen’s restaurants, where the locals go and eat home-style cooked dishes. My mum used to make a clear broth based chicken soup and she was against adding any flour or pasta in it. No offense mum, but I always love the terbiyeli version of it. Either
way this chicken soup still reminds me “home”. Hope you enjoy, afiyet olsun.
Terbiyeli Chicken Soup
For broth
2 x organic chicken breast – skin on ( legs also do)
1tbsp olive oil
1 carrot – halved
1 medium yellow onion or banana shallot – sliced
1 celery stick – roughly chopped
6-7 black peppercorns
2 garlic cloves – skin on, lightly crushed
a pinch of sea salt
Bouquet garni; a few parsley stalks, 3-4 strings of thyme, 1 bay leave
1l boiling water
For soup
1tbsp plain flour
1tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp yogurt
1 egg yolk
Half of a lemon juice
1/2 tsp sea salt
For topping
1 good tbsp of unsalted butter
1/2 tsp dried mint
1/4 tsp isot – Urfa black chilli flakes (you can use pinch of chilli flakes or pul biber instead)
Chopped parsley – handful
Heat a small soup pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil. Add the onions. Saute until tender and slightly caramelised about 5 minutes. Then add the carrot, celery stick, garlic cloves and cook for further 2-3 minutes. Add the boiling water, and chicken breasts. Turn the heat low, add aromatics, a pinch of salt, peppercorns and simmer for 30-35 minutes with lid on until the chicken meat is tender. Remove the chicken and carrot. Pull the chicken meat, and chop the cooked carrots. Set aside.
In the meantime strain the broth through a fine sieve. Keep aside until cool down..
For the soup, bring your soup pot back on a moderate heat add the butter along with olive oil, once the butter is melted add the flour and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the smell of flour changed and the colour is golden brown. Then slowly add the broth a little at a time while keep whisking. Add remaining broth and simmer.
In a small bowl add the yogurt, egg yolk, lemon juice and mix until they are all combined and smooth. Before combining this mixture with the soup base, temper it adding from the soup base a little at a time. Once the egg-yogurt mixture is hot enough, pour it to the soup pot and stir for a few minutes. Add your chicken, carrot, salt and black pepper to taste. Close the lid on and cook for further few minutes. In a sauce pan, melt the butter until it bubbles. Add the dried mint, chilli, and finally parsley. Turn off immediately.
Pour the soup in a bowl and stir the spiced butter on top while it is hot.
* the recipe is created for Chicken Soup Project by photographer Patricia Niven
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