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Azerbaijani

Dovğa

Contains egg (no meat or fish)

A bright yogurt soup thick with spinach, dill, cilantro and mint, plus a little rice and chickpeas. Eaten hot in winter and chilled as a refreshing summer drink-soup.

Dovğa is an Azerbaijani soup, ready in about 45 minutes and made with yogurt and spinach. It serves 4 and is rated easy to cook.

Start cooking
Bowl of dovğa, warm yogurt and herb soup with chickpeas
Photo: Moonsun1981 / Wikimedia Commons · CC-BY-SA-3.0
Prep
15 min
Cook
30 min
Total
45 min
Serves
4
Level
Easy
Calories
196

Ingredients

4 servings

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Whisk (opens in a new tab) the yogurt (opens in a new tab), water, egg (opens in a new tab) and flour together in a saucepan (opens in a new tab) until completely smooth. Add the rice.

    Eggs being whisked in a bowl
    How it looks · Photo: Kampus Production on Pexels

  2. Step 2

    Heat slowly over medium heat, stirring constantly in one direction, until it comes to a gentle boil. This stops the yogurt (opens in a new tab) curdling.

    • 12 min
    • medium heat

  3. Step 3

    Lower the heat and simmer, stirring often, until the rice is tender.

    • 12 min
    • low heat

  4. Step 4

    Stir in the spinach (opens in a new tab), herbs, chickpeas (opens in a new tab) and salt and simmer for 3–4 minutes more. Serve hot, or cool and chill to serve cold.

    • 4 min
    • low heat

    Food safety: Simmer for a few minutes so the egg is fully cooked.

    A finished dish being plated
    How it looks · Photo: Willians Huerta on Pexels

About this dish

Origin
Azerbaijan · Well documentedSimilar to Armenian spas and Iranian ash-e doogh.More food from Azerbaijan
Dish
Lunch · Dinner · Soups
Cooking method
Simmered
Taste
tangy, herby, refreshing, creamy
Diet
Vegetarian (lacto-ovo) · No nut ingredients
All labelsVegetarian (lacto-ovo) · Eggetarian · Pescatarian · Flexitarian-friendly · No nut ingredients · No added sugar · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · Beef-free · Low-fat
With the listed swaps: No gluten ingredientsWorked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for
Budget-friendly · Make-ahead
Cook more with
Yogurt · Spinach · Egg · All-purpose flour · Short-grain rice · Dill
Techniques
Simmering

Allergens

  • Contains: Milkfrom yogurt
  • Contains: Eggsfrom egg
  • Contains, can be adapted: Wheatfrom all-purpose flour
  • Contains, can be adapted: Glutenfrom all-purpose flour

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

196 kcal per serving

Calculated

1 serving ≈ 385 g · recipe makes 4

Where the energy comes from

  • Protein 21%
  • Carbohydrate 45%
  • Fat 34%
Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
NutrientPer servingPer 100 g*
Energy196 kcal51 kcal
Protein10.3 g2.7 g
Carbohydrate22.2 g5.8 g
Net carbohydrate21 g5.5 g
Sugars——
Added sugars0 g0 g
Fibre1.2 g0.3 g
Fat7.6 g2 g
Saturated fat4.4 g1.1 g
Trans fat——
Cholesterol71 mg18 mg
Sodium718 mg187 mg
Salt equivalent1.8 g0.5 g
Vitamins & minerals per serving
Potassium
571 mg
Calcium
300 mg
Iron
2.3 mg
Magnesium
58 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)
250 µg
Vitamin C
17 mg
Vitamin D
0.4 µg
Vitamin B12
0.8 µg
Folate (DFE)
94 µg

How these numbers were made

  • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
  • *Per 100 g of combined raw ingredients; the cooked dish may weigh more or less.
  • Optional ingredients are not included: chickpeas.
  • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
  • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

  • Keep stirring in one direction until it boils — stopping or boiling too fast is what makes it split.

Common mistakes

  • Adding the salt at the start encourages curdling; add it at the end.

Serve with

  • Serve chilled in glasses on hot days, or hot with bread in winter.

Storage

  • Keeps 3 days in the fridge.

Reheating

  • Serve cold, or reheat gently while stirring; do not boil hard.

Variations

  • Ətli dovğa: With small lamb meatballs simmered in the soup.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Grouped by each ingredient’s role in the dish. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

What the dish is built around

Main ingredient

Used in steps 1, 4

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

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