Vegan Turkish yogurt soup

Before I tried to make this soup, I had NO idea how hard it was to find plain nondairy yogurt in the Detroit area. I mean, really? No lactose-intolerance folks around, convincing Meijer to keep plain soy yogurt on the shelves? And I need to stress: whatever type of nondairy yogurt you use, make sure it has no sweeteners in it.

This was the first time I have actually tried to convert a recipe to vegan. (Original is here.) Usually, my vegan recipes just don’t have any dairy or eggs in them to begin with. However, since the star ingredient in this is tangy, rich, plain yogurt, I knew I’d have to play with some ingredients— and I’m very pleased with the results.

I used So Delicious’s Greek style plain almond yogurt. If you can’t find this one, use an unsweetened, non-dairy yogurt.

I’m happy with how this soup came out, and will definitely make it again. (Almond yogurt doesn’t cook as strangely as dairy does, and can be left unattended longer.) The tanginess of the almond yogurt and the richness of the beans melded together nicely.

If the ingredients seem too simple, I encourage you to add veggies. I’ve added chopped green onions and spinach, and that worked well.

Ingredients

1/4 cup rice
5 cups water
2 cups almond yogurt (I used Almond Dream’s Greek style yogurt)
1/3 cup cannellini beans
1 tbsp tarragon (or dried mint)
2 tbsp rice vinegar (optional: to give the soup some tang)
2 tbsp butter substitute (I used Earth Balance)
2 tbsp chick pea flour (or another non-sweet gluten-free flour)
salt to taste

1. Cook the rice in the five cups of water. I know it seems weird, but the rice water will form part soup base. With that much water, rice cooks quickly— it’ll only need about 20 minutes or so.

2. Blend— or mash— the beans into a paste.

3. When the rice is almost done cooking, put the almond yogurt in a large soup pot, along with the chickpea flour and beans. Stir together, mixing it thoroughly.

4. When the rice is getting verrry soft, you’ll need to add it, and the water, to the yogurt. That rice-infused water be part of the basis for this soup. Pour the rice, and water, very slowly into yogurt, stirring constantly.

5. This would be an excellent time to sample the soup and add salt.

6. Melt the butter spread in a small saucepan. When the butter substitute is getting nice and melty, add the tarragon. Heat for about 20 to 30 seconds.

7. Add the herbed butter to the soup.

And now, because it has no dairy or eggs, it can easily be reheated.