Instructions: Wash the wheat berries; cover with salted water and let soak 4 hrs.

Drain wheat berries; place in a deep saucepan, add the onion and plenty of water to
cover, and cook, partly covered, until tender, about 2 hours. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Discard the onion quarters.

in a food processor, and working in batches, combine the cooked wheat berries with
2 to 3 cups of the poultry stock and blend until smooth, or push the mixture through
the fine blade of a food mill. put into a deep sauce pan and add as much of of the
remaining three cups as needed to make a smooth creamy soup. Up to this point the
soup can be prepared a day in advance.

About 30 minutes before serving, reheat the soup. Combine drained yogurt, milk, egg,
flour, olive oil and pinch of sugar in a second saucepan; whisk until smooth. Set
yogurt over low heat, and turn off heat under the soup. Gradually stir 2 cups of the
hot soup base into the yogurt in order to raise its temperature. When the temperature
of the yogurt is hotter than the temperature of the soup - test by touching - pour the
yogurt back into the soup, stirring constantly over low heat, until it just comes to a
boil, about 15 minutes. Correct the seasonings with salt. Transfer to a covered soup
tureen.

In a small skillet, saute the almonds and pistachios in the butter until golden. Remove
the nuts from the skillet with a slotted spoon and sprinkle over the soup.

Stir the
tomato paste into the butter that remains in the skillet and bring to a sizzle, stirring.

Add the ground pepper, sieved saffron and stir once. Then add a tablespoon of stick
to to keep the butter from over heating. Swirl the mixture into the soup, stir once and serve.

Yield: Six servings

If you would like to email yourself the recipe for later use, or share the recipe with your friends or family, enter the email addresses below and this recipe will be emailed to you and others as well.