Bowl of Pelted Wheat & Yogurt Soup
(click to enlarge)

Pelted Wheat & Yogurt Soup


Armenia   -   Dzedzadz Tanabour
Makes:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 7 cups
***
10 hrs
Yes		 This soup is in all my Armenian cookbooks, testimony to its importance. If Pelted Wheat is not available, see Note-1 for substitutions. See also Note-5 for variations.




2/3
1-1/2
4
6
4
1
1
1/4
1
c
c
c
oz
c
t

c
T
Pelted Wheat (1)  
Water
Yogurt (2)
Onion
Broth (3)
Salt
Egg
Butter
Mint, dried (4)

This is a very filling soup, so few will want more than a cup. It is also quite tart. If you feel it seems too tart, some recipes allow up to 1/2 t of sugar.

Do-Ahead:   -   (8 hrs - 5 min work exclusive of making broth)
  1. Soak PELTED WHEAT in 1-1/2 cups Water overnight or at least 8 hours. Drain.
  2. Make BROTH if you don't have it on-hand.
Prep:   -   (10 min)
  1. Chop ONION fine.
  2. Crush Dried Mint so you can measure it, or chop fresh herbs fine (see Note-4).
Run:   -   (1-3/4 hrs)
  1. Place Pelted Wheat and Broth in a suitable sauce pan. Bring to a boil and simmer covered until wheat is tender (1-1/2 to 2 hrs).
  2. Meanwhile:   Melt Butter and fry Onion over moderate heat (it's butter), stirring frequently until a uniform golden color. Take off the heat and stir in Mint or Fresh Herbs. Mix into Pelted Wheat.
  3. In a large bowl, beat Egg until smooth. Beat in Yogurt until smooth and well distributed.
  4. When Wheat is done, beat some of the Soup into the Yogurt, a bit at a time, until you've stirred in about 1 cup. Stir the Yogurt mix gradually into Soup, stirring continuously until very well blended. Bring the soup up hot, but not boiling.
  5. Serve hot or cold.
NOTES:

  1. Pelted Wheat:

      [Dzedzadz (Armenia); Hurled Wheat]   This is lightly pearled whole wheat kernels. It is available in markets serving ethnic communities from Turkey through the Caucasus and on into Persia, and is very common here in Los Angeles. Cracked Pelted Wheat [Gorgot (Armenia) / Yarma (Turkish)] is also sometimes used. Pearled Barley can be used as a substitute, but please try to find the lightly pearled version. It is light beige rather than white, and the grains are larger. It has more flavor and behaves much better in cooking.

  2. Yogurt:

      [Madzoon (Armenia)]   This should be plain, natural, full fat yogurt, no flavors, additives or fancy names.

  3. Broth:

      In Armenia Beef or Chicken broth is used, but this recipe can be vegetarian by using a vegetable broth. Our recipe for Russian Vegetable Stock will work fine, and was used for the photo example.

  4. Mint:

      Dried Mint is traditional in the region, but some current recipes call for 1/4 cup Fresh Mint or a mix of Mint and Parsley.

  5. Variations:

      Similar soups are made with rice (Printz Tanabour) which doesn't need the pre-soak, and with 1/4 inch wide noodles (Dutmaj Abour) which is even quicker.
  6. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove, in=inch, ar=as required, tt=to taste

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