Yogurt, White Bean and Garlic Soup

Originally posted Jan. 30, 2021.

If you ever wished to have garlic bread in the form of a soup, this is it. If you never thought you wanted it, you should now. It’s creamy, it’s garlicky, it’s good.

This recipe was inspired by Ottolenghi’s Hot Yogurt and Fava Bean Soup in Plenty. That recipe is delicious. If you’re someone who likes to search out ingredients, you should give it a go.

While this soup has protein, it is a light soup so treat it as side.

You can make this soup in under an hour. If you use white rice or pre-cooked rice, it will be quicker.

Yogurt, White Bean, and Garlic Soup Ingredients
3-4 servings
¼ c olive oil
6 garlic cloves
2 Tbl minced garlic
1 Tbl Better Than Bouillon onion baste
2 Tbl brown rice
3 c water
15 oz of canned white beans (keep the brine)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp chipotle powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1 c Greek yogurt
1 egg
salt (maybe)
ground sumac (for garnish)
lemon juice (for garnish)
baby arugula (for garnish)

Yogurt, White Bean, and Garlic Soup Directions
Heat ¼ c of olive oil in a frying pan until it shimmers.

Slice off the dry end of 6 cloves of garlic. Lay a knife flat on top of the garlic and hit the knife with the exterior of your fist. Remove the paper skin. Slice the garlic. 

Put the garlic in the pan with the oil. The oil should slightly bubble around the cloves. Remove the garlic when they begin to brown and turn off the heat. Save the garlic and the oil.

In a 3 quart sauce pan, add 2 Tbl minced garlic, 1 Tbl Better Than Bouillon onion baste, 2 Tbl brown rice, and 3 c water. Boil the water, bring it to a simmer for 45 minutes (if you use white rice, reduce your cooking time and the amount of minced garlic).

When the rice is soft, add the can of white beans and its brine, ½ tsp black pepper, and ¼ tsp of chipotle powder. Bring the pot to a simmer.

Turn off the heat. Add 2 tsp of garlic powder and the fried garlic. Put an immersion blender into the pot and puree the mixture. Leave the pot off heat.

In a medium bowl, mix together 1 egg and 1 c of Greek yogurt. Whisk in a small amount of soup into the bowl with the yogurt. Keep adding more soup until about half of the soup is in the bowl. 

Poor the contents of the bowl into the pot with the soup. Stir to incorporate it. Gently reheat the soup if it cooled too much. Do not boil the soup.

To serve, put soup in a bowl. Drizzle lemon juice, and garlic olive oil over the soup. Sprinkle sumac in the bowl. Top with arugula.

Notes
If you don’t have sumac, don’t go and buy it. You can skip it or add paprika or red chile for color.

Please oh please oh please use arugula. If you need to substitute it, use dandelion leaves or radicchio. Spinach is too mild of a green in this dish.

If you want it less tart, reduce the yogurt to ½ c and add ½ c of milk.

Soup might l separate in the fridge so just stir it when you reheat it.

You can freeze individual servings of the soup to use as an easy side dish.