Turkish cuisine has lots of well known soups, many of which you will see when you eat in lokantas and other traditional Turkish restaurants. This courgette soup recipe isn’t one of those oft seen ones, but it’s delicious all the same.
Warming and comforting in winter and, omit a couple of the more hefty ingredients, and you also have a light summer soup, too.
We’re making the winter comfort food version; patatesli kabak çorbası. Courgette soup with potato.
Courgettes In Turkish Cuisine
We’ll go out on a limb here and say that perhaps the most famous Turkish courgette recipe is mücver.
Away from the frying pan, we like to make a slightly different (but more convenient) version of that same mücver recipe with our potato and courgette fritter baked in the oven.
Courgette is also wonderfully tasty when stuffed (kabak dolması) or when used as a filling for börek.
But sometimes, when the mood takes you, it’s just got to be soup. And we’re being healthy. No cream!
We’re actually not big fans of cream in a soup – heavy and rich is not for our palette.
In this courgette soup recipe, the potato does the trick for a bit of added creaminess and makes for a good comfort food thickening agent.
Erişte Or Şehriye
Oh, and as this is a winter version of our Turkish courgette soup recipe, we’re going to add another ingredient, too.
An ingredient that will add to the Turkish flavour. Erişte – a type of egg noodle cut into short rectangular shapes – really makes for a more energy-filled soup.
Vermicelli pasta (şehriye) can be used if you can’t get erişte.
Time To Serve Your Turkish Courgette Soup
When soup is eaten in Turkey, you are unlikely to be served with just a bowl of soup. Turks make a full meal and the table will be filled with condiments and side dishes.
If you are going all out for the Turkish serving, a small side salad and also a side of lemon wedges and fresh, whole chillies should be on the table.
Then you need your dried herbs and spices. For Turkish courgette soup, dried mint and chilli flakes should be there, too.
Don’t Forget The Bread
Serve your patatesli kabak çorbası with wedges of fresh, crusty bread (even better if you can get it from the bakery when it’s still warm).
Sprinkle more dried mint over your soup and also extra chilli flakes, if you like. Squeeze in the juice from a wedge of fresh lemon.
Eat it all up – and wish your bowl was a bit bigger so you could have had more!
Courgette Soup Recipe – Made In Turkey
So, let’s get on with our healthy courgette soup recipe – Patatesli kabak çorbası…
Courgette & Potato Soup Recipe (Turkish – Patatesli Kabak Çorbası)
Ingredients
- 3 medium courgettes (sliced down the middle & cut into half moons)
- 1 large potato (scrubbed & cut into small chunks)
- 1 large onion (peeled & roughly chopped)
- 1 handful vermicelli (or şehriye or erişte)
- 1½ litre chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
- 1 pinch dried mint
- 1 pinch chilli flakes
- salt & pepper (for seasoning)
- 1 wedge lemon (to serve)
Instructions
- Gently heat a glug of olive oil in a large sauce pan and add your onion.
- Sauté your onion until it starts to sweat and turn translucent.
- Now add your courgettes and stir around for a couple of minutes.
- Add your potato and continue to stir your ingredients around so they don’t stick to the pan.
- Now add your chicken or vegetable stock.
- Turn up the heat and bring to the boil.
- Add your mint, chilli flakes and salt & pepper.
- Reduce the heat, cover with a lid and leave to simmer for around 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, remove from the heat and mash your soup.
- Now add your vermicelli, erişte or şehriye and return to the heat.
- Continue to simmer for around 10 minutes until your pasta or noodles soften.
- Serve your soup with a wedge of lemon and season with additional mint and chilli flakes, if you wish.
Notes
- As with all our recipes, the calories in our courgette soup recipe are approximate.
- If you want to make this recipe even more traditionally Turkish, you can substitute the olive oil for a knob of butter.
- We leave our potato unpeeled for more nutrients but you can peel your potato if you wish.
- We also mash out courgette soup rather than blending. If you like a completely smooth soup, you can blend yours.
Nutrition
Afiyet Olsun!
If you love soup and other Turkish dishes, get cooking in the kitchen with our Turkish recipe offerings.
Turkey's For Life
Monday 25th of October 2010
Thanks Dimah. The soup is delicious.
Gringarl, the vermicelli just makes it a bit more filling.
gringarl
Monday 25th of October 2010
I love zucchini soup, never tried it with vermicelli but reading your post sounds like a great idea. I'll make it soon, thanks for sharing
Dimah
Tuesday 12th of October 2010
Beautiful photos ! and the soup looks delicious.
Turkey's For Life
Tuesday 12th of October 2010
Yes, it certainly feels more healthy when you leve the peel on the potatoes - and also means you don't have to spend time peeling them. :)
Cardamom Hills
Tuesday 12th of October 2010
looks fantastic....i prefer my potatoes without peeling coz we dont wana miss out on the nutrients there....!!!