Persian cooking: recipes · Soups (ash)

Ash reshteh آش رشته

A thick herb and noodle soup with beans, chickpeas and lentils, topped with kashk, mint oil and fried onions. A dish for celebrations and cold days.

⏱ 150 min · vegetarian

Ingredients

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  • 125 g red kidney beans (cooked)
  • 125 g chickpeas (cooked)
  • 85 g lentils
  • 1¾ onions
  • ¾ tsp turmeric
  • 1.7 l water or vegetable stock
  • 1¾ bunch flat-leaf parsley
  • ¾ bunch fresh coriander
  • ¾ bunch spring onions or leek greens
  • 210 g spinach
  • 165 g reshteh (Persian soup noodles) or linguine
  • 125 ml kashk (fermented whey)
  • 1¾ tbsp dried mint
  • 5 tbsp oil
  • salt (to taste)

Method

  1. Dice one onion and fry it in 2 tbsp oil with the turmeric. Add the lentils and stock and cook for 20 minutes.
  2. Add the beans, chickpeas, the finely chopped herbs and the spinach, season with salt and simmer for 45 minutes.
  3. Break the noodles into pieces, add them and cook for 15 minutes until the soup is thick. Stir part of the kashk (thinned with a little water) into the soup.
  4. Slice the second onion into rings and fry in 3 tbsp oil until golden (piaz dagh).
  5. For nana dagh, heat 1 tbsp oil, take it off the heat and stir in the mint briefly so it doesn’t burn.
  6. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with kashk, fried onions and mint oil.