Bulgarian Meatball Soup

ground beef

🥗Healthier: ground turkey

💰Cheaper: ground pork

Ground turkey is leaner, while ground pork is often less expensive.

vegetable broth

🥗Healthier: homemade broth

💰Cheaper: water with seasoning

Homemade broth is healthier and more flavorful.

olive oil

🥗Healthier: avocado oil

💰Cheaper: canola oil

Avocado oil is healthier, while canola oil is often cheaper.

rice

🥗Healthier: quinoa

💰Cheaper: bulgur

Quinoa is a high-protein alternative, while bulgur is often less expensive.

Add two tablespoons of rice in a pot with ¼ cup of water and heat it to medium high. Cook until the water is gone. Place the cooked rice in a fine mesh strainer and rinse it with cold water to cool it off.

In a bowl add the ground meat, the egg white, 1/4 cup of the chopped onion, the cooked rice, summer savory, salt and pepper. Use your hands to mix the meat mixture very well.

Form small sized meatballs (half an inch in diameter). Use a small cookie scoop or your hands to scoop a little bit of the meat mixture. Roll between your palms to form small meatballs. Then roll them in flour.

Chop the onion and carrot to a fine dice.

To a soup pot add 2 Tbsp of oil and heat it to medium-high. Then add the chopped onion and carrot. Add some salt and stir. Cook the vegetables until they are slightly softer and the onion is translucent (3-5 min). Stir frequently.

Add 8 cups (or half a gallon) of water to the soup pot with the chopped carrot and onion. Then increase the heat to high and bring the water to a boil.

Once the water is boiling reduce the heat to low. Add seasoning to taste (salt and pepper). Then add the meatballs to the soup. Shake the excess flour of each meatball before adding it to the boiling water.

Peel and cut two potatoes to small cubes (about an inch). Add them to the pot with the boiling water.

Then add the angel hair pasta by breaking it to thirds.

Continue cooking until the potatoes and the pasta are done (5-7 more minutes). Check for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed. Remove the pot from the heat and allow the soup to cool off for 10 minutes.

Add 1/4 cup of yogurt to an egg yolk and use a fork to stir them together. Then add a tablespoon from the soup to the yogurt mixture and stir well. Continue adding broth (one tablespoon at a time) and stirring until the mixture is warm. The goal is to temper the egg yolk so it doesn’t separate. When the yogurt mixture is tempered add it back to the soup and stir.

Serve the soup warm with chopped parsley.

Store leftover soup in the cooking pot, covered with lid or other food safe container. Keep it in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.

Cooking Techniques

Equipment Needed

Spice Level: