Ingredients
Pulses
- 150 gdried chickpeas, soaked overnight
- 150 gdried kidney beans, soaked overnight
- 100 gbrown or green lentils
Herbs
- 300 gflat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 300 gcoriander, chopped
- 200 gspinach, chopped
- 100 ggarlic chives or spring onion tops, chopped
- 50 gdried dill
The pot
- 2large onions, thinly sliced
- 6 tbspvegetable oil
- 1 tbspground turmeric
- 2 litreswater or light stock
- 2 tspsalt
- 1 tspblack pepper
- 250 greshteh (flat Persian noodles), or linguine broken in half
To finish — nana dagh and piaz dagh
- 3 tbspdried mint
- 4 tbspoil
- 2onions, sliced and fried dark
- 6 clovesgarlic, sliced and fried
- 200 gkashk (fermented whey), thinned with a little hot water
Directions
- Drain the soaked pulses, cover generously with fresh water and simmer 50–60 minutes until tender. Add the lentils for the last 20 minutes. Keep the cooking liquid.
- Meanwhile fry the sliced onions in the oil over medium heat for 20 minutes until deep brown, then stir in the turmeric and cook 30 seconds. Set a third of these aside as piaz dagh for the top.
- Add the cooked pulses with their liquid to the onion pot, top up to about 2 litres, season and simmer 15 minutes.
- Add all the chopped herbs. It will look like far too much — it always does — and will collapse to a fraction within ten minutes. Simmer 30 minutes until the soup is dark green and thick.
- Break in the reshteh and cook 10–12 minutes, stirring often so they do not stick to the base. The noodles release starch and thicken the ash considerably; add hot water whenever it gets claggy.
- Make the nana dagh: warm the oil in a small pan, take it off the heat, wait 20 seconds and stir in the dried mint. It should sizzle and turn dark green in seconds. Mint burns almost instantly in hot oil and turns black and bitter, so this is done off the heat.
- Stir half the kashk through the soup. Serve in bowls with the rest of the kashk swirled on top, then the fried onion, fried garlic and mint oil drizzled over.
Technique
- Reshteh are salted noodles and will season the soup as they cook, so hold back on salt until after they go in.
- Kashk is intensely sour and salty. Thin it and add it off the boil — boiled kashk splits and goes grainy.
- The quantity of herbs is not a misprint. Ash reshteh is a herb soup with pulses in it, not a bean soup with herbs.
Substitutions
- Thick Greek yogurt whisked with a little lemon and salt stands in for kashk, though it is milder.
- Tinned chickpeas and kidney beans save an hour, added at step 3.
Variations
- Ash-e jow, made with barley instead of noodles.
- A version without kashk for those avoiding dairy, sharpened with more lemon.
History
Noodle and herb soup topped with kashk and fried mint, cooked for Nowruz and as a votive offering.
Frequently asked questions
What is Ash reshteh?
Ash reshteh is a soup & stew from Iran: thick herb-noodle-bean soup with fermented whey and fried mint. Noodle and herb soup topped with kashk and fried mint, cooked for Nowruz and as a votive offering.
How long does Ash reshteh take to make?
Ash reshteh takes 30 min plus overnight soaking of preparation and 2 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Ash reshteh?
Yes, within limits. Thick Greek yogurt whisked with a little lemon and salt stands in for kashk, though it is milder. Tinned chickpeas and kidney beans save an hour, added at step 3.
What is the most important thing to get right in Ash reshteh?
Break in the reshteh and cook 10–12 minutes, stirring often so they do not stick to the base. The noodles release starch and thicken the ash considerably; add hot water whenever it gets claggy.
