Bosnian, Herzegovinian recipe
How to make Bey's soup
begova čorba
Sarajevo and all of the country, from the Ottoman period
A creamy chicken and vegetable soup with rice and dried okra, finished off the heat with soured cream, egg yolks and a squeeze of lemon. It is a festive dish offered to guests at weddings and religious holidays.
Ingredients
- 2 chicken legs or 500 g chicken on the bone
- 1.5 litres water and 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 carrots, 1 small celery root or parsley root, diced
- 60 g rice, cooked separately
- A handful of dried okra, soaked in water for 30 minutes (or 100 g fresh okra, sliced)
- 2 egg yolks (use pasteurised yolks if serving pregnant women, young children, older people or anyone with a weak immune system)
- 150 ml soured cream
- Juice of ½ lemon
Method
- Simmer the chicken in the salted water for about 45 minutes, until tender. Lift it out, take the meat off the bones and cut it into small pieces. Strain the broth.
- Put the broth back on the heat with the carrots, celery root and okra, and simmer for 20 minutes until soft.
- Add the chicken and cooked rice and heat through for 5 minutes. Season with lemon juice and salt. Take the pan off the heat.
- Whisk the egg yolks with the soured cream. Stir in a ladle of hot soup, then pour the mixture into the pan, stirring. Do not let the soup boil again, or it will curdle.
- Serve at once, with bread.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
The name means 'the bey's soup'. A bey was a gentleman of high rank in the Ottoman Empire, so it is sometimes called 'gentlemen's soup'.
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