While Ukrainians cook okroshka during the hot season, Bulgarians prefer cold soup tarator, which is served both in a plate and in a glass, if it is water enough. In fact, if you add a little more water to the soup, then it will become a refreshing drink that goes well with meat-based dishes.

This soup isn’t just refreshing, it’s also very easy and quick to make. After all, the ingredients for it do not need to be thermally processed, just cut them up and you’re done!

6 TIPS FOR MAKING TARATOR

The classic tarator recipe calls for plain yogurt. However, in the Bulgarian villages, sour cow’s milk, sheep’s and goat’s are used. You can also use curdled milk or buttermilk.
The main vegetable in the soup is cucumber, but the taste of the soup can be varied with other vegetables, for example, radishes, romano salad, carrots, celery, and even pumpkin with zucchini. The vegetables must be finely chopped, while half of the cucumbers are diced and half are grated or shredded.
Dill, scallions, salt, vegetable oil and walnuts are added to the vegetable base. By the way, the nuts can be toasted or dried in the oven if you like.
The thickness of the soup can be adjusted with water. For my recipe, I used mineral water, but chilled filtered water is also fine.
This traditional Bulgarian soup is served cold, so ice cubes can be added to the plate.
You can simply salt the tarator, but if you want to achieve the original taste of the Bulgarian dish, then you cannot do without the “sharena sol” seasoning or, in other words, “variegated salt”. It contains table salt, thyme, fenugreek, paprika, coriander, chili, black pepper, ground corn grains and baked pumpkin seeds. By the way, the seasoning will not only enhance the taste and aroma of the soup, but also extend its shelf life, and all thanks to the fenugreek in the composition. This spice mixture can be found in almost any supermarket in Ukraine, or even online.

How to make tarator

Tarator (bulgarian cold cucumber soup) recipe: Directions

Step 1

Cucumbers are the base of this refreshing cold soup. Thoroughly wash 3-4 cucumbers and trim them on both sides. Grate half of the cucumbers on a coarse grater. Dice the other half into small cubes 0.3-0.5 cm wide to make the texture of the soup interesting. Combine both cucumbers in one bowl.

Step 2

Pour the honey into a small saucepan and add the anise star. Heat the saucepan with honey well – this will help the honey absorb the star anise aroma. Remove the saucepan from heat and stabilize the temperature with a second tablespoon of honey – this will stop the mixture from heating any further. Pull out the anise and pour the fragrant honey over the cucumbers.

Step 3

Finely mince the garlic and add it to the bowl. Then, add the juice and zest of one lemon. Finely chop up the scallion and the dill. Add them to the rest of the ingredients. Then, chop up the walnuts and add them. If you like, you can toast the walnuts beforehand.

Step 4

Then stir in the thick plain yogurt. Mix everything well to combine, season with salt and ground pepper.

Step 5

Pour in one cup of mineral water and add 2 tbsp olive oil – this will make the soup richer. You can also use sunflower oil if you like. Place the tarator in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours to steep and cool, or serve this soup immediately with ice cubes in the bowls.