Preparing Dried Tarhana

Sample Dishes from Turkish Cuisine

Preparing Dried Tarhana (Kuru Tarhana Hazırlanışı )

Preparation

Put 2 cups of water and salt in a saucepan and let boil. Peel the onions and wash, wash the tomatoes and peppers, remove the stems of the peppers. Chop the vegetables into 3 centimetre cubes and add to the boilng water and cook for 40-45 minutes until they are very tender. Let cool and then pass through a blender or sieve. Put the flour and semolina in a large dish, and mix, make a hole in the middle and place the yogurt and the mashed vegetables, mix well and knead for 7-8 minutes to make a dough. Cover and leave to fermentate for 3 days at room temperature. During this time knead it three times a day, everyday. Divide the dough into egg sized pieces and place on a clean cloth. Dry them out in an airy and shaded place, keeping slidely humid. Rub each piece of dough between the palm of the hands to make small size grains and again leave to dry. Pass through a sieve and repeat the drying process.

Notes

Preparation of tarhana, though basically the same, nevertheless displays some local variations. It is a ready soup ingredient which is generally prepared from a mixture of yogurt and cereals or a mixture of yogurt, cereals and vegetables. Various aromatic herbs can be added during the preparation. As cereal, wheat, flour and semolina or any combination of these can be used; as vegetables onions, tomatoes and fresh red peppers are used. The fermented mixture can also be dried in a low heat oven. Another type of tarhana is the "yarma" or "göce" tarhana. Yarma (croasly crushed wheat) is cooked with yogurt and shaped into small sized pieces or round and flat pattie and dried. These are soaked in water for a while before making the soup for easier cooking. The soup can also be made by adding small size beet cubes and boiled chickpeas.