Every Turkish Kitchen Makes This Soup Powder

Tarhana is one of the oldest fermented foods of Anatolia — a soup base made from yogurt, flour, and fresh summer vegetables that are fermented, dried, and ground into powder. In this video, I’ll show you step by step how to prepare tarhana at home: from cutting the vegetables, to fermenting the dough for 21 days, drying it properly, and finally turning it into soup powder you can keep for months.

This recipe has been passed down through generations and is still one of the most comforting, nourishing foods in Turkish cuisine. Whether you make a small batch to try it out or a big one to share with family and friends, tarhana is truly a treasure of the Turkish kitchen.

Ingredients:
1+1/2 kg. plum or other tomatoes
1 kg. onion
750gr. red capia pepper
500gr. sweet green pepper
500gr. strained yogurt
250gr. cooked chickpeas
bunch of mint, parsley
about 3 kg. or more flour
starter or dry yeast to start fermenting (optional)
3/4 cup rock salt (later after it is fermented)

🌿 Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:05 Ingredients
03:02 Preparing the veggies
06:55 Fermentation Process
10:07 After fermenting, Drying the Dough
12:14 Grinding into Powder
14:21 How to store Tarhana soup powder
15:20 Cooking Tarhana Soup
17:50 Taste & Closing

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Today we are making fermented tarhana, 
a true treasure of the Turkish kitchen. It’s not just food. It’s a way to preserve the 
season’s best ingredients for months to come. The idea is to bring the summer ingredients into a 
mix, fermented, dry it, and use it as a ready soup powder throughout the year. A perfect example for 
zero waste kitchen and fermenting the ingredients, which is also good for your gut health. 
In every angle when you look at it, it’s a perfect ancient recipe and I can confidently say 
it is probably first ready soup in the history. [Music] I have beautiful tomatoes. These are 
a plum tomatoes which has less water in it. So we usually prefer these. But if you have 
a garden, whichever tomatoes you are growing, you can use them. If it has too much water, you 
can squeeze out a little bit after cutting into half. The tomatoes are about 1 and 1/2 
kilogram. I have 1 kilogram of onion. I have some red and green peppers. These 
are around half kilogram each. I want to use a little bit more red pepper to have 
its flavor and also color. So it is about 750 g up to 1 kilogram you can use. I have 
a yogurt 500 g that is a straining. You can use strain yogurt. I just made my own strain 
yogurt here with the regular yogurt I have. I have around 250 g of cooked chickpeas here. 
These will help to ferment it and also give extra richness and vitamin. And to flavor, I’m going to 
add bunch of fresh mint. You can also add parsley if you like. We have dill that is overgrown. 
Usually in my region, my father’s hometown, they also use it. In this one, I’m not going 
to use it because I don’t have it. Every region has its own recipe. And in Kastamonu in the 
middle Black Sea region, they usually make it with raw ingredients without cooking them. In 
my uh previous recipe I shared, I usually cook my vegetables first to get the juice out a little 
bit. So I use less flour. This year I want to make it a raw version to compare with the cooked one. 
So, first I’m going to roughly cut my vegetables, process in my food processor, bring them together 
in a big bowl or container. You can also use and then we will continue with the process. This is 
my tarana that I made last year. I’m going to use this as a yeast and it will refreshen also with 
my new tarana uh powder. I’m starting with the tomatoes, cutting them up, and sprinkling a little 
salt. Usually, this is the moment when tomatoes release their juices. But with these egg tomatoes, 
not much happened. They stayed quite firm. If you are using a different variety though, you’ll see 
how the salt draws out plenty of liquid. This step isn’t strictly necessary, but it does help 
by leaving out the tomato juice. You won’t need to add as much flour later to balance the mixture. 
The same goes for the yogurt. Look how much liquid came out. You can actually drink this one. It 
is healthy and refreshing. But for the tarana, I won’t be using it because again, less 
liquid here means a better texture later. Now it’s time to process the vegetables. I’m starting with the onions. 
They release quite a lot of water, so I’ll squeeze some of that out before moving on. After that, I will prepare the 
peppers, both red and green, which will bring beautiful color, 
sweetness, and spiciness into my mixture. At this point, if you like spicy, 
you can use some of the hot peppers, green peppers to give spiciness. Next, I’m processing my mint. Bunch of 
mint. And then the chickpeas. The kitchen already smells so refreshing, beautiful 
with all the fresh vegetables processed. I wanted to add some tomatoes along with it to 
help processing with the help of an extra juice. And finally, I process the tomatoes. Once that’s done, all the vegetables 
come together in one big bowl. Onions, peppers, tomatoes, fresh herbs, and yogurt 
forming the colorful base of our tarana. So, I have all the vegetables processed 
and put together here in my biggest bowl I have in the kitchen along with the strained 
yogurt. It smells absolutely so flavorful like you want to just dip some bread and have it. 
Now, it’s time to add the flour and just to give as a starter my old tarana. You can 
keep it like this. It will still going to ferment or add a little bit dry yeast to 
activate the fermenting process but it is not necessary. Another best thing would be 
if you are making sourdough bread add your starter in it and it will give all the flavors 
from the starter inside our tarana as well. I have good amount of vegetable mix here. So 
I decided to use this container because it’s going to take a lot and then while fermenting 
it will double in size. It is better to use big container. I have about 2 kilogram of 
flour here. So I will transfer this mixture here. Stir until it becomes a dough. Add more 
flour if needed. Before I continue, I wanted to process one more time the mixture to make 
it as small as possible using my hand blender. Into this mixture, I’m going to add a big 
tablespoon of pepper paste. This is optional. I want to add some color, deeper 
aroma and some hotness. And I’m going to add more flour and along uh 
with my old tarana last year I made. This year I decided to make a bigger batch 
of tarana so I can share it with my family and friends. My mom and my mother-in-law are 
older now and it’s not so easy for them to make it anymore. For me, it feels like such 
a meaningful gift to give something homemade. But if you are making tarana for the very first 
time, I recommend starting with a smaller amount. It’s definitely easier to handle and you’ll 
still get to enjoy the full experience and it is also going to be more than enough for the 
winter to use. I added about 3 kg of flour, working it until it became a stiff dough. Then 
let it ferment. In the first couple of days, I stirred it twice a day, then once a 
day to prevent mold from forming on top. Cover lightly with a cloth or leave the 
lid slightly open so air can circulate. In the first two three days the dough can soften 
with the juice of the vegetables. So you can add extra flour but after that just don’t add it. 
You will notice the dough rising, fermenting and developing that characteristic sour aroma 
and then the process will gradually slow down. If you have time, let it ferment 
for a full 21 days. If not, 10 to 12 days will still 
give you a delicious result. After fermenting for 21 days, you will notice the 
tarhanadol has become much firmer and stiffer. As it continued to dry with the airflow, it naturally stiffens. At this stage, 
I added about 3/4 of a cup rock salt. This not only helps preserve the 
tarhana but also makes it easier to break the dough down into powder later on. For the last 3 weeks, the whole house has 
been smelling of tarana and finally it’s time to dry it. I spread a clean 
tablecloth over my kitchen island. Drying usually takes two or three days, 
so if you need your table every day, you can also set this up near a window or even 
down on the floor. The clo helps absorb any leftover moisture. And we’ll also use it to cover 
the top, keeping the dough clean and protected from the direct sunlight. I take pieces from 
the tarana dough and place them on the cloth. We don’t want them in the sun directly that can 
fade the beautiful color. Instead, keep them in the shade where there is a good airflow. After a 
few hours or the next day, I flip the pieces over. I check them a couple of times during the day, 
breaking them down gradually for more even drying. The next morning it was even more drier. You 
can use a grater to help at this stage to break down. And mine was ready to process. The texture 
should still be slightly damp so it can breaks down easily in the food processor but not so 
moist that it can stick together otherwise since back and forth I checked couple of 
times I was ready to process them the next day after about 24 hours but definitely it 
can change depending on the season you are having if it is hot or cold, sunny or rainy. The finer you grind the tarana into powder, the 
easier it will melt into a smooth soup later. But even if it looks like powder in the processor, there are always a few larger 
bits hiding in the mix. To work around this, I sift the tarhana using 
a big collander we call kalour in Turkish. The fine powder falls through while 
the bigger pieces stay on top. Those can simply go back into the processor for 
another round until everything is even. After processing, I ended up with a big batch 
of tarana soup powder and it smells absolutely wonderful. But it is still a little damp at 
this stage. So, make sure to spread it out and stir it for a couple of more days. This way it 
dries completely and will keep well for months. Okay, I have my beautiful tarana powder ready 
after the processing. It has been drying for about five more days and I just kept coming and steering 
from time to time to dry it completely. This step is also important so it doesn’t dampen and spoil 
somehow. It has to be completely dry. The best and traditional way is to store in this kind of cotton 
bags. This is from my mom. This is the last year’s tarana I have left. But still beautiful. A bit 
lighter because it has been waiting for a year but it’s still okay. If you have place, put 
it into the fridge. That is better. Cool, dry place is the best. This will be too much for me. 
I will hopefully give some of it as a gift. So now I’m eager to try this year’s tarana for the first 
time. Let’s get some and cook together and taste. After all this processing, I would love to say 
that just pouring the tarana powder into a bowl magically turns it into hot soup, but it doesn’t, 
my friends. What I can say though is that making the soup is almost that easy. I used about half2 
cup of tarana soup powder. Just a little more. And then I will add some water. Cook on medium low, 
stirring frequently until it thickens. That’s all actually. But there are ways to flavor it. You 
can heat up some extra tomato or pepper paste to the base with some oil or saute some ground beef. 
In Customu region, they also crack one egg into the oil. Saute until it is crumbled all the way 
and then add the mixture tarhana with scrambled eggs. And there are other tons of ways to make 
it. I’m also thinking after this recipe to use this tarana powder in different kinds of recipe. 
Maybe I would also share this in another episode. So I added half cup of tarhana powder and 
four cups of water. The water is cold. It is the best. Sometimes I use a warm to make it 
to shorten the time. But when you begin with cool water and continue to stir, it dissolves 
even more beautifully and it comes out creamy. And stir from time to time while you do other 
things and it will thicken gradually become a beautiful soup. This is the very basic one. 
There are lots of possibilities, but this time let’s make a simple butter, mint, and a pepper 
chili flake sauce on top and serve right in. [Music] Tarhana has such a unique 
taste. Tangy from the yogurt, full of depth from the fermented vegetables 
and spices. It is slightly sour, savory, and comforting all at once. 
Let’s taste it. [Music] This soup is smooth and velvety with a flavor that 
somehow feels both hearty and light. For many of us, it’s the taste of childhood winters. Something 
that warms you through on the coldest days. So, here it is, my friends. A bowl of tarana soup 
with the dried powder in front of me. Weeks of fermenting and drying all came down to this warm, 
comforting bowl of soup. If you have never made it before, I encourage you to try even in small 
batch. It is, believe me, easier than it looks, and nothing beats the flavor of homemade soup. 
Taste the magic of this centuries old recipe. Thank you for joining me, and I’ll see 
you in the next episode. Afiyet olsun!