Helle soup is one of the dishes most often mentioned on Amasya tables in winter. In the region it is also called herle, and elsewhere it is often simply known as flour soup. Its ingredients are a handful of rice, a few spoonfuls of flour and butter, and nothing more; it needs neither meat stock nor vegetables. This plainness ties it to the frugal side of Anatolian cooking, to the habit of setting a filling table with whatever is at hand. It appears in the soups section of the regional dishes compiled by the Amasya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, and it has its own recipe in the official collections that present the province's traditional cuisine.

The written record of the soup in Amasya rests above all on Amasya Mutfağı (Amasya Cuisine), a book prepared by H. Harun Yörgüç at the request of the Governorship of Amasya. This bilingual Turkish and English book of eighty-eight pages divides the regional dishes into soups, meat dishes, vegetable dishes, pastries, rice dishes, desserts and local specialities. Nine soups are listed in the soups section: toyka soup, çatal soup, kesme hamur soup (ibik soup), helle soup, bıdıklı soup, topal börülce soup, sakala çarpan soup, sıkma tarhana soup and bütün yarma soup (ayran soup). Helle appears on page eleven of the book. In his introduction Yörgüç writes that he had been working on the dishes of Amasya for years and took on the task when the governor wished to gather this knowledge into a book. Booksellers' records give the year of publication in two different ways, as 2006 and as 2010.

The soup is not unique to Amasya. It is also made in the kitchens of Tokat and Sivas, and related versions under variants of the same name are found across a wide area stretching from Yozgat to Erzincan and Erzurum. Each region has shaped the recipe around its own ingredients, so several closely related soups circulate under the name helle. In Amasya the version with rice is preferred, while in Sivas, Tokat and Yozgat lentils usually go into the soup, and that version is also known as herle. When describing helle, then, it is worth remembering that the name covers a somewhat different dish from one region to the next.

Name and Origin

According to the shared account of food writers, the name comes from a verb. Hellemek means to roast flour together with butter, and the soup takes its name from that step. Because the first stage, in which flour and fat are roasted, determines both the texture and the flavor of the soup, it is plausible that the name refers to this cooking technique. This explanation, however, is not supported by any dictionary entry; no older source for the word and no document showing when the soup first appeared has been put forward. Nor is there a reliable record of where helle soup was first made, so the question of whether it belongs to Amasya, Sivas or Tokat cannot be answered with certainty.

Dialect research approaches the question from another direction. In a field study of the speech of the Akıncılar district of Sivas, published in 2021 by Özlem Ayazlı and Halil İbrahim Taşkıran, helle is given as an example of regressive assimilation: the r sound in the word herle has assimilated to the following l, producing helle, and the meaning of the word is recorded as "flour soup." On this analysis herle is the older of the two names, and helle the pronunciation that took hold in local speech. Seen this way, it is also possible that the verb hellemek was derived from the name of the soup; but there is no document showing in which direction the derivation ran, and the two explanations stand side by side. That the soup in Amasya goes by both names, and that texts often give it as helle (herle), is a natural result of this sound change.

The dictionary of Turkish dialects compiled by the Turkish Language Association gives three meanings for herle: a soup of flour roasted in fat, or bulamaç; plain flour; and a pestil jelly made by boiling mulberry juice with flour. The same collection records, from Erzincan and its surroundings, a soup-like dish made of flour roasted in fat, and from Erzurum a soup made by gradually adding boiled water to flour roasted in fat, believed to be good for sore throats. These definitions show that the name is tied less to a particular ingredient than to a particular process, namely roasting flour in fat and thinning it with water. Local dictionaries of the Tokat dialect also explain helle as "flour soup," and the same list gives the word guymah as "a thick helle dish." In a herle recipe published as a Tokat-style dish, the flour mixture whisked with water and added to the soup is itself called herle, which suggests that in the kitchen the word still names this intermediate preparation as well.

Geographical Spread

Herle, or helle, is a name known across a large part of Central and Eastern Anatolia. In a list of the principal dishes of a village in the Zara district of Sivas, kara herle and katıklı herle are named separately; in a description of a village in the Akdağmadeni district of Yozgat, herle appears among the village's most valued dishes alongside sarma, hoşaf aşı, bulgur pilaf, omaç and madımak. In Yozgat the soup is presented under both names as "Herle (Helle)." This spread shows that the name does not belong to a single city and is used as the common name for plain soups made from roasted flour.

Within this wide area, what sets Amasya apart is rice. Most of the herles of Eastern and Central Anatolia either consist only of flour and fat or are enriched with additions such as lentils, bulgur or cheese. The written Amasya recipe has no lentils at all; rice forms the body of the soup. This is why the rice helle of Amasya is regarded as a local form distinct from the lentil helle of Tokat and Sivas.

Ingredients

The traditional recipe in the Amasya Mutfağı book consists of five ingredients: two tablespoons of flour, one tablespoon of butter, one tea glass of rice, five water glasses of water and black pepper. Salt is not mentioned separately in this record, but it appears in most recipes published today and is added so that the soup carries a flavor of its own. The English column of the book gives the measure of rice as half a cup, evidently chosen as an approximate equivalent of the tea glass in the Turkish text. At the end of the book there is also a table for converting measures.

Part of the reason for its simplicity is the way it is cooked. Everything happens in one pot and in a short time, with no lengthy preparation or waiting. Current recipe pages give around twenty minutes for preparation and twenty-five minutes for cooking. The soup is a dish that can be put together quickly for a guest arriving at the house or a family coming in from the cold.

Traditional Method

In the regional recipe, two tablespoons of flour are roasted in one tablespoon of butter. The roasting continues until the raw smell of the flour is gone and its color has changed slightly; some accounts ask for it to turn a light brown. Because burnt flour gives the soup a bitter taste, the heat is kept low and the stirring never stops. The book calls this base of roasted flour and fat meyane, the name by which the fatty flour mixture that gives body to soups and stews is known in Turkish cooking. The English column of the book renders meyane as "russet brown," in reference to its color.

Five water glasses of cold water are added to the roasted flour. With cold water the flour dissolves easily; recipes that use hot water advise adding it little by little while stirring constantly, since the most common cause of lumps is pouring the water in all at once. In a separate pot, one tea glass of rice is boiled in plenty of water and then added to the meyane. The soup is cooked while being stirred continuously until it comes to the boil, then served with black pepper sprinkled on top. Other recipes put the rice straight into the boiling soup and cook it over low heat until it is completely soft. With this method the rice releases its starch into the soup, which takes on a denser consistency.

Variations in the Home

The version in the book is the simplest, but household recipes add other flavors to the soup. In some homes a spoonful of tomato or pepper paste is stirred into the roasted flour, giving the soup a slightly reddish color. At serving time it is also common to drizzle over red pepper flakes, ground red pepper or mint sizzled in butter. The hot fat leaves a colored layer on the surface of the soup and gives aroma with the first spoonful. When preparing this sauce, care is taken not to burn the fat and to take the pan off the heat as soon as the ground pepper goes in; otherwise the pepper turns bitter.

Some household recipes mix oil into the butter, increase the flour to five spoonfuls and raise the water to seven glasses. This produces a thinner soup. The amount of rice may drop to half a tea glass. In another method the flour is whisked with cold water in a separate bowl, tempered with some of the cooking water from the boiled rice, and only then added to the soup. There are also recipes that add minced meat or mint as desired. None of these replaces the traditional form; in Amasya, the word helle first brings to mind the soup in which flour and rice are cooked simply.

The Sivas, Tokat and Yozgat Versions

In Sivas helle is made with lentils. First the lentils are boiled; in a separate bowl a few spoonfuls of flour are whisked with water and poured slowly into the lentils, with stirring all the while. Then the remaining flour is roasted with a little butter until it changes color and is added to the soup. In this way Sivas helle takes on a darker and heavier flavor than the rice helle of Amasya. Another version recorded from Sivas, herle with village cheese, adds boiled green lentils, fine bulgur and meat stock to flour roasted in butter and olive oil until it turns pink; once the soup begins to boil, village cheese goes in, and the pot comes off the heat when the bulgur is cooked. Here flour is still the basis of the soup, but its flavor now comes from the lentils, the bulgur and the cheese.

In Tokat helle is usually made with green lentils and in some places goes by the name flour soup. In one recipe published from Tokat, onions are fried well in a separate pan while the lentils boil, and the flour is roasted dry over low heat, left to cool, thinned with cold water and added little by little to the boiling lentils; melted butter and, if desired, red pepper flakes are poured over the soup. In another Tokat recipe the flour is not roasted at all but whisked into a glass of water and added gradually to the lentils and onions, and minced meat may be put into the soup. The herle presented in Yozgat follows the same line: a thick soup of green lentils, flour and red pepper flakes, favored on cold days. What all these versions share is flour thinned with water to give the soup its body; what distinguishes Amasya is that rice takes the place of lentils and that the flour is always roasted in butter.

The Postpartum Soup and Folk Beliefs

In the region helle is known as a soothing soup favored in illness, after childbirth and in cold weather. This belief is not confined to Amasya. In Tokat one of the soup's other names is loğusa çorbası, the postpartum soup: it is said that in the past it was cooked for women who had just given birth in the belief that it increased their milk, and that this custom continues in some homes today. The herle entry recorded from Erzurum notes the belief that the soup is good for sore throats. Its thick, soft texture may be the basis for these characterizations, but they have no medical confirmation; they are passed on as a popular habit.

Nutritional Value

Because helle soup consists of flour, rice and fat, it is high in carbohydrates and fat and low in fiber. According to calculations on recipe pages, a bowl provides roughly 130 to 180 calories; this figure varies with portion size and the amount of fat. For this reason it is advised that the soup be eaten with care on diets that restrict calories and carbohydrates, and that it be accompanied by fibrous vegetables or whole-grain bread. On the other hand, it is considered a quick source of energy for children and for people doing heavy physical work.

Its Place in Amasya Cuisine

The Amasya Municipality's presentation of the regional cuisine links the province's culinary culture to its historical life, its long-established level of culture and the diversity of its plant cover. Among the soups it lists çatal soup, sakala çarpan, toyga soup, cilbir, helle soup, kesme ibik soup and yarma soup. In this list helle is one of the dishes with the fewest ingredients. The meat dishes include more labor-intensive dishes such as bakla dolması, keşkek, mıhlama and sulu köfte; among the desserts kuymak, höşmerim, gelin parmağı and gömlek kadayıfı stand out, and among the pastries Amasya çöreği, yakasal böreği, hengel and eli böğründe.

The Amasya Mutfağı book also describes in detail the meals tied to particular ceremonies in the region. The six-dish table set for an "ağır misafir," an esteemed guest who has come from afar and stays the night, consists in order of toyka soup, bütün et, rice pilaf, sinisu böreği, okra and a dessert; at the meal welcoming a returning pilgrim, toyka soup again comes first. Helle is not mentioned at these ceremonial tables. The velime, wedding, bride's bath and barama meals listed in the book also rest on other dishes. That helle appears in the book only in its short recipe among the soups suggests that it belongs to the everyday kitchen of the home more than to the elaborate tables prepared for guests.

Within this broad table helle is remembered for its simplicity rather than for display. In Amasya it is eaten piping hot on winter days, at breakfast or at the evening meal. It is also said locally that the soup can be found in most of the restaurants in Amasya. Regional promotional publications note that in the old mansions of the city, restored and now used as hotels and restaurants, a meal of local dishes can begin with soups such as toyka, helle and kesme ibik. Made in homes for generations, the soup has today been set down in writing in the Amasya Mutfağı book and in the official collections that present the traditional cuisine. These collections give the basic recipe; each household's own touch, whether tomato paste, mint or red pepper flakes, should be seen as a habit that varies from home to home.

Helle in the Written Record

2006: The Governorship of Amasya publishes Amasya Mutfağı, prepared by H. Harun Yörgüç; helle soup appears in the soups section with its bilingual recipe (some records give the year of publication as 2010).

2021: In a study of the phonology of the Akıncılar dialect of Sivas, helle is recorded as a form of the word herle produced by assimilation, with the meaning "flour soup."

Bibliography

Academic studies

  • Ayazlı, Özlem and Taşkıran, Halil İbrahim. "Sivas İli Akıncılar İlçesi Ağzı Ses Bilgisi Özellikleri". Sivas Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, vol. XLV, no. 1 (June 2021).

Official sources

  • Yörgüç, H. Harun (ed.). Amasya Mutfağı. Amasya Valiliği Yayını, 88 pp. (Culture Portal e-book: Amasya Yemekleri Tarihçesi, pp. 6–7; Helle Çorbası, p. 11) kentrehberi.amasya.bel.tr
  • Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Culture Portal, Amasya Traditional Cuisine: Helle Çorbası (source: Governorship of Amasya, Amasya Mutfağı book)
  • Amasya Municipality, City Guide: Yöre Mutfağı; Amasya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism: Yöre Mutfağı
  • Turhal Municipality: Tokat Sözlüğü (entries helle, guymah) turhal.bel.tr

Other sources

  • Turkish Language Association, Türkiye Türkçesi Ağızları Sözlüğü: entry herle
  • Central Black Sea Development Agency, Türkçe Lezzet promotional publication (Amasya)
  • Tokat Haber: Helle Çorbası (29.12.2023); Tokat'ın Yöresel Lezzetleri: Helle Çorbası
  • Yozgat Çamlık Gazetesi: Herle (Helle) Çorbası (17.08.2023)
  • Yemek.com: Helle Çorbası Tarifi; Köy Peynirli Herle Çorbası Tarifi (Sivas)
  • Nefis Yemek Tarifleri: Amasya Yöresi Pirinç Hellesi
  • Ye-mek.net: Helle Çorbası (Amasya, Tokat ve Sivas Yöresi)

Online sources