By Nik, founder of 東歐嚴選｜kefir.link and former chef · Updated 2 November 2026
On hot summer days in eastern and southeastern Anatolia, cooks stir cooked wheat and chickpeas into cold yogurt thinned with water and finish the bowl with mint and dill. The result, ayran aşı, is cool and tangy, and it works as a starter or as a light meal on its own. Here plain milk kefir joins the yogurt, which makes the soup lighter and gives it a fresher tang.
A drink that became a meal
The soup takes its name from ayran, the salted yogurt-and-water drink served with kebabs and meatballs, since its base is thinned yogurt of similar consistency. Add soft wheat and chickpeas, and the drink becomes something you eat with a spoon. Cooks in Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa and Bitlis make the cold version, and around Van it also goes by mastava aşı. In Erzurum, the same name belongs to a different, hot soup of meatballs, wheat, coriander and yogurt, registered as a regional speciality in 2022.
Keeping the yogurt smooth
A cold yogurt soup can split or turn watery, and Turkish cooks know exactly why. Yogurt curdles when it meets very hot or very cold ingredients too abruptly, when it is very low in fat or past its best, or when salt and acid go in at the wrong moment. That is why the wheat and chickpeas must be fully cooled and well drained, the water goes in a little at a time, and the salt comes last. Strained yogurt gives a thicker soup, and because it keeps thickening as it rests, a little cold water loosens it again before serving.
Ways to serve and vary it
Serve the soup with toasted bread or thin lavash, or set it beside börek or kısır. Pearl barley or another grain can replace the wheat, and cooked green lentils can stand in for the chickpeas. Parsley works in place of dill, spring onion or diced cucumber add freshness, and a few spoons of milk soften the sourness. If you use dried mint, use less than fresh, and chop fresh mint very finely so it does not take over.
Chilled wheat and chickpea kefir soup
Ingredients
- 120 g cooked wheat berries Use cooked pearl wheat, cooled and drained. Cooked pearl barley is an alternative, sold in Taiwan as peeled barley.
- 130 g cooked chickpeas Cooled and drained. Rinse and drain canned chickpeas before using.
- 250 ml plain milk kefir Unsweetened and chilled.
- 200 ml plain yogurt Unsweetened and chilled.
- 400 ml cooled boiled water
- ½ bunch fresh mint
- ½ bunch fresh dill Fresh parsley can replace dill.
- ½ tsp salt
You will need
- Measuring jug
- Sieve
- Large mixing bowl and whisk
- Knife and chopping board
- Covered container
- Saucepan, if cooking the wheat yourself
Instructions
- Wash the mint and dill, then pat dry.
- Finely chop the mint and dill.
- Whisk the yogurt in a large bowl until smooth.
- Whisk the cooled boiled water into the yogurt a little at a time until evenly mixed.
- Stir the chilled milk kefir into the yogurt mixture.
- Gently fold in the cooked wheat and chickpeas, both cooled and drained.
- Stir in the chopped herbs and salt.
- Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Gently stir the soup, then divide among four small bowls and serve cold.
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