Tarator – Bulgarian cold cucumber soup with yogurt

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On a hot summer day, tarator is a real treat and a real refreshment next to okroshka or svekolnik. The Bulgarian cold cucumber soup with yogurt tastes light and is quick to make. You can find a detailed tarator recipe with the exact quantities and step-by-step instructions here at the very bottom.

What is tarator?

Tarator is a popular cold soup of Bulgarian cuisine. It is also common in some other Balkan countries. The soup consists of natural yogurt, cucumber, dill, walnuts, garlic, vegetable oil, water and salt.

Tarator is served well chilled, sometimes with ice cubes, before the main course or together with the main course. If the soup has a very liquid consistency, it is served in Bulgaria in glasses. Then it is drunk with the main dish.

In Bulgaria you can buy a tarator spice mix. This is used to season the cold soup in addition to salt.

Experiment with consistency and ingredient quantities

As far as the consistency and ingredient amounts are concerned, there are some tarator recipes that differ slightly in this. You can also experiment with this, and create the cold cucumber soup to your taste.

Instead of grating cucumber, as I did, you can cut it into thin strips or small cubes. This will make your summer soup taste crisper. You can also use a mix of grated and chopped cucumber.

If cucumber peel bothers you in the tarator, peel the vegetables first.

You can also chop walnuts coarsely or finely instead of pureeing them together with garlic. This way you have nut pieces in the soup. For a less pronounced nut flavor, use a smaller amount of walnut kernels**.

If you like the tarator less spicy, reduce the amount of garlic, similar to the basil pesto recipe.

Likewise, you can adjust the amount of lemon juice to taste.

In addition to dill, other herbs will work. How about parsley, for example?

Also, you can flavor the cold cucumber soup with any spices of your choice.

Depending on how thick you like the tarator, adjust the amount of water in the recipe. For a thinner consistency of cucumber soup, just use more water.

Vegan cold cucumber soup

You can easily make the tarator soup vegan. Instead of natural yogurt made from cow’s milk, use a plant-based yogurt alternative. I used soy yogurt. This makes the cold cucumber soup no less delicious than the original.

 

How to serve tarator?

Tarator is served cold. It tastes best if you leave it in the refrigerator for about an hour after preparation. However, if you need to serve it quickly, you can chill it with ice cubes and serve it immediately.

Store leftover tarator soup in the refrigerator. It still tastes delicious the next day.

While I tend to go for the chickpea curry, ramen soup or red lentil dal in the winter, on a hot summer day I prefer a falafel bowl, poke bowl or just this cold cucumber soup with yogurt.

It passes perfectly as a cold main dish. You can eat fresh bread with it, for example baguette, baton or whole wheat bread. But the tarator is also ideal as an appetizer.

For dessert, you can have cherry vareniki, a homemade lemon ice cream or strawberry chocolate muffins – and a delicious lunch is assured!

This cucumber yogurt soup is

• light,
• spicy,
• creamy,
• nutty,
• moderately hot,
• delicious,
• refreshing,
• cool,
• healthy,
• summery,
• aromatic,
• made with soy yogurt – vegan,
• easy and quick to make,
• ideal for hot summer days,
• perfect as a main course or appetizer,
• classic of Bulgarian cuisine.

Quick tarator recipe

The tarator recipe you can find here at the end of the post in the recipe box is simple and fast. You don’t have to cook anything for it. So it’s perfect for a summer day when you don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

First, you coarsely grate cucumbers, salt them, and let them sit while you prepare the rest. During this time, some juice will come out of the cucumbers, and this will make the cold summer soup taste even better.

Meanwhile, mash garlic with walnut and mix it with natural yogurt. Then add cucumber, chopped dill, a little lemon juice and vegetable oil.

Now dilute the tarator with cold water and add salt to taste.

How to make Bulgarian cold cucumber soup: tips and tricks

• Instead of roughly grating cucumbers, you can cut them into thin strips or small cubes.
• You can finely chop walnut kernels and garlic instead of pureeing them.
• You can adjust the amount of garlic, walnut and lemon juice to taste.
• You can season the cold cucumber soup with additional herbs and spices.
• Instead of natural yogurt you can use kefir.
• Use the amount of water for dilution depending on the desired consistency of the soup.
• For vegan tarator, use soy yogurt in the recipe.

Did you make tarator using this recipe? I’m looking forward to your results, your star rating and your comment here below on how you succeeded and tasted the cold cucumber yogurt soup.

Looking for more refreshing summer recipes? Try:

• Berry iced tea recipe – cool and fruity
• Apricot rosemary lemonade – aromatic refreshing
• Fresh kompot – popular Russian fruit drink

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