The Slavic east and the Balkans · Volume 30, The Living Culture, the Roman Vein and the Rose Valley
Tarator
Bulgaria
Illustration
- Time
- 15 minutes
Bulgaria, the cold summer soup built entirely on kiselo mlyako's tang.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. About 15 minutes, plus chilling.
Ingredients
The tradition's method, with the ingredients named. Quantities follow as we verify them.
- 500g kiselo mlyako
- 200 to 250ml cold water
- 1 large, about 300g cucumber, grated
- 3 to 4 tbsp walnut, crushed
- 2 tbsp dill, chopped
- 2 to 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- to taste salt
Method
- Thin the kiselo mlyako with cold water.
- Add grated cucumber, crushed walnut, chopped dill and garlic.
- Finish with a slick of sunflower oil and salt to taste.
- Chill thoroughly before serving.
Notes
Its whole character depends on a genuinely cultured, unstrained yoghurt, per rung one; a strained, Greek-style substitute throws the texture and the tang both off at once.
What a modern chef changes
A home-cultured base, chinois-strained, with a toasted walnut oil and dehydrated cucumber
Rung 1
Method
- Start from a home-cultured kiselo mlyako judged by nose and set rather than a shop tub, per rung one exactly.
- Blend the base in a high-power blender and pass it through a chinois for a genuinely silken result rather than the rustic, visibly grated original.
- Toast the walnuts and work half of them into a walnut oil finished with a touch of the crushed nut itself, drizzled rather than scattered.
- Dehydrate thin cucumber ribbons to a light crisp for a textural contrast dropped on top just before serving, against the smooth cold base beneath.