Previous Next

1 / 5

Video recipe

About this recipe

✨

Recipe highlight

Why you’ll love it

Tender spinach, creamy yogurt, soft rice, garlic, lemon, and paprika oil make this Balkan soup fresh, silky, and deeply comforting. 🌿

Ingredients

• Soup base 🌿
• 🌿 400 g fresh spinach, washed and chopped (10 cups / 14.1 oz)
• 🍚 90 g short-grain rice, rinsed (½ cup / 3.2 oz)
• 🧅 120 g yellow onion, finely chopped (¾ cup / 4.2 oz)
• 🧄 12 g garlic, finely grated (4 cloves / 0.42 oz)
• 🫒 35 ml olive oil or sunflower oil (2 tbsp + 1 tsp / 1.2 fl oz)
• 💧 1.2 l vegetable broth or water, hot (5 cups / 40 fl oz)
• 🧂 8 g fine sea salt (1⅓ tsp / 0.28 oz)
• ⚫ 2 g black pepper (1 tsp / 0.07 oz)
• Yogurt finish 🥣
• 🥣 300 g thick plain yogurt (1¼ cups / 10.6 oz) dairy
• 🥚 1 egg yolk, optional, 18 g (1 yolk / 0.6 oz) egg
• 🍋 25 ml lemon juice (1 tbsp + 2 tsp / 0.85 fl oz)
• 🌿 20 g fresh parsley or dill, chopped (½ cup / 0.7 oz)
• Paprika oil 🌶️
• 🫒 25 ml olive oil or sunflower oil (1 tbsp + 2 tsp / 0.85 fl oz)
• 🌶️ 4 g sweet paprika (1½ tsp / 0.14 oz)
• 🌶️ 1 g chili flakes, optional (½ tsp / 0.04 oz)
• Serving ✨
• 🍋 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• 🥖 300 g warm bread, optional (10.6 oz) gluten
• 🌿 5 g extra parsley, for topping (2 tbsp / 0.18 oz)

Preparation

• 1 Soften the onion 🧅 Warm olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 5 min until soft, glossy, and lightly sweet.
• 2 Add garlic and rice 🧄 Stir in garlic and rinsed rice. Cook for 1 min, just until fragrant, so the rice picks up the oil and garlic flavor.
• 3 Simmer the rice 🍚 Pour in the hot broth or water. Add salt and black pepper. Simmer uncovered for 14–16 min, until the rice is tender and the broth looks slightly thicker.
• 4 Add the spinach 🌿 Add the chopped spinach in handfuls. Cook for 3–4 min until wilted, bright green, and tender. Lower the heat to very gentle.
• 5 Temper the yogurt 🥣 In a bowl, whisk yogurt, egg yolk if using, and lemon juice. Add 2 ladles of hot soup liquid slowly while whisking, so the yogurt warms without curdling.
• 6 Make it creamy ✨ Pour the tempered yogurt mixture back into the pot. Stir gently for 2 min over low heat. Do not boil after adding yogurt.
• 7 Bloom the paprika oil 🌶️ In a small pan, warm olive oil over low heat. Add sweet paprika and chili flakes if using. Stir for 8–10 sec, then remove from heat before the paprika darkens.
• 8 Finish and serve 🍲 Stir parsley or dill into the soup. Ladle into bowls, drizzle with paprika oil, and serve with lemon wedges and warm bread.

Timing details

Nutrition

Estimated values per serving.

Tips & variations

More from this category

Share & Print