What is "tarhana"

n. Dried food based on a fermented mixture of grain and yoghurt or fermented milk, usually made into a thick soup with water, stock, or milk.

Tarkhana ( Armenian թարխանա), trahanas ( Greek τραχανάς) or (xyno)hondros ((ξυνό)χονδρος), tarkhineh, tarkhāneh, tarkhwāneh ( Persian ترخینه، ترخانه، ترخوانه), tarxane ( Kurdish), trahana ( Albanian), трахана / тархана ( Bulgarian), tarana / тарана, tarhana ( Bosnian, Serbian), kishk (Egypt), kushuk (Iraq), or tarhana ( Turkish) are names for a dried food based on a fermented mixture of grain and yoghurt or fermented milk, usually made into a thick soup with water, stock, or milk ( Persian ash-e tarkhineh dugh آش ترخینه دوغ). As it is both acid and low in moisture the milk proteins keep for long periods. Tarhana is very similar to some kinds of kishk.

The Armenian tarkhana is made up of matzoon and eggs mixed with half of wheat flour and half of starch. Small pieces of dough are prepared and dried and then kept in glass containers and uses mostly dry soups, dissolving in hot liquids. The Greek trahana contains only cracked wheat or a cous cous-like paste and fermented milk. The Turkish tarhana consists of cracked wheat (or flour), yoghurt, and vegetables fermented then dried. In Cyprus, it is considered a national specialty, and is often served with pieces of haloumi cheese in it.

Like many other foodstuffs which originated from the need to preserve food—cured ham, smoked fish,and the like—tarhana soup is often eaten as a matter of taste and choice where fresh food is abundant and refrigeration available.