Herbed Yogurt Soup

As a small luxury in packing, I brought two cookbooks with me to the Middle East. One of them is called Extending the Table. In the Amman office, we each take turns preparing lunch for everyone on workdays. Ryan and I quickly adopted Thursdays when we arrived here, but today was actually the first Thursday we were in the office for lunch. I broke out Extending the Table and made this super delicious Herbed Yogurt Soup from Iran. It was perfect for a hot day.

Herbed Yogurt Soup

Combine in a large tupperware container:

• 2 quarts (liters) yogurt (this means the salty liquid kind, which may be harder to find in the States. I would suggest looking for it in International markets, or maybe Whole Foods)
• 2/3 cup cucumber, peeled & grated (I used at least twice as much)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 T fresh dill, bruised (I had to omit this because it's not in season here - soup was a-okay without it)
• several mint sprigs (I doubled this as well - several x 2 - removed the leaves and minced them)
• 1 t salt (I omitted this as well because the yogurt was already salty)
• black pepper to taste

Refrigerate for several hours or overnight to let the flavors mingle.  Serve with bread (pita preferable).