Name: Easy Yogurt Soup With Orzo and Chickpeas
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: ¼ cup (50 g) orzo or long-grain rice; 3 cups (720ml) chicken or vegetable stock; 1 tbsp cornstarch; 1 egg yolk; 1 cup (240 g) Greek yogurt; 1 tbsp dried mint; 1 good pinch saffron threads or ½ tsp ground turmeric; Black pepper; ¾ cup (120 g) canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed; Salt; Extra-virgin olive oil for serving; Sumac for serving; Aleppo pepper for serving

Two bowls of yogurt orzo chickpea soup with glasses of white wine and saffron.

Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne

This splendid, delicately flavored soup is inspired by one that charmed me completely at a dinner in Istanbul to celebrate the adoption by UNESCO of Gaziantep as a Creative City for its gastronomy. All the recipes on the menu hailed from the city.

You must try it—it’s marvelous. My granddaughter Ruby, who tested it, has adopted it with her friends at college. She sent me a photo of them eating it at their kitchen table with antique candlesticks and a bottle of wine.

The egg yolk and cornstarch prevent the yogurt from curdling as it cooks. The tiny pasta called orzo (or you can use long-grain rice) is cooked separately and added just before serving—if left in the soup too long it becomes bloated and mushy.