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Soup

Balkan Cucumber Soup

A chilled cucumber and yogurt soup flavored with dill, garlic, and salt.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and dill match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 530 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Balkan Cucumber Soup

Timeat least 2 hours refrigeration

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. Place the cucumber and garlic in a food processor or blender and process to a puree.

  2. Transfer to a large bowl, add the dill, salt, water, and yoghurt and mix well.

Chill and serve

  1. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

  2. When ready to serve, ladle into bowls and sprinkle with toasted almonds.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

38Calories
2 gProtein
1 gFat
7 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Dill5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cucumber + dilltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together530 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Cucumber + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,556 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Clove + dilltop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together187 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Garlic + dilltop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together943 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Cucumber + almondtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together166 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cucumber
Provides the main body and fresh, cool flavour of the soup.
Plain yoghurt
Gives the soup its creamy texture and tangy acidity.
Garlic
Adds sharp aroma that mellows during chilling.
Fresh dill
Contributes a herbal, aromatic flavour that complements the cucumber.

The step that matters

Chilling the soup for at least 2 hours. Cold resting lets the garlic and dill flavours blend and mellow into the yoghurt and cucumber, while the soup thickens slightly and tastes more balanced than it does freshly mixed.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, garlic, clove, dill):

  1. Chickpeafits better
  2. Lentilsfits better
  3. Cashew nutfits better
  4. Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, garlic, clove, dill. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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