Unash

Ingredients

The noodle dough

• 400 gplain flour
• plus extra for dusting
• 1egg
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• about 150 ml cold water

The beans

• 200 gdried mung beans
• or dried red beans
• soaked overnight
• or 400 g cooked beans
• drained

The broth

• 600 glamb on the bone
• or beef, in pieces
• 2.5 litreswater
• 2onions, chopped
• 3 tablespoonsoil
• or lamb fat
• 2tomatoes, chopped
• or 1 tablespoon tomato purée
• 1 teaspoonground cumin
• salt and black pepper

To finish

• a large bunch of herbs
• coriander, dill and parsley
• chopped
• suzma or gatyk
• strained sour milk
• or thick plain yoghurt
• see the safety note

To serve

• churek or flatbread
• black pepper
• green tea

Directions

1. Discard the soaking water entirely. Boil the beans hard for ten minutes. Then simmer them until fully tender. Make the dough first, since it needs resting. Put the flour in a bowl with the salt. Make a well and add the beaten egg.
2. Add cold water gradually while mixing. Cold water gives a firmer dough. Add only enough to bring it together. This dough should be quite stiff. Turn it out onto a floured surface. Knead it hard for a full ten minutes. It should become smooth and elastic. Wrap it and rest it thirty minutes. Drain the soaked beans and rinse them.
3. Put them in a pot with fresh water. Bring them to a full rolling boil. Boil hard for ten minutes uncovered. Skim off any foam that rises up. Lower to a simmer and cook until tender.
4. Drain them and set them aside. Heat the oil in a large heavy pot. Brown the lamb pieces in batches. Do not crowd the pot or it steams. Lift the meat out and set it aside. Add the chopped onions to the pot. Cook them until soft and golden. That softening takes about ten minutes.
5. Add the tomatoes or the tomato purée. Fry it for two or three minutes. Add the ground cumin and fry it briefly. Return the meat with any juices.
6. Add the water and bring it slowly to a boil. Skim off the grey foam that rises. Keep skimming until no more appears. Simmer it gently for about an hour. The meat should become fully tender. Season with salt and black pepper. Taste it carefully at this stage.
7. Season it a little more strongly than usual. Divide the rested dough into pieces. Keep the pieces you are not using covered. Roll each out as thin as you can. Let the sheets dry ten minutes. Slightly dry sheets cut more cleanly. Dust each sheet generously with flour.
8. Roll it up loosely into a flat log. Slice across it as thinly as you can. Spread them on a floured tray. Add the cooked beans to the broth. Let them warm through for five minutes.
9. Shake the excess flour off the noodles. Too much loose flour makes it pasty. Add the noodles to the simmering broth. Stir once so they do not clump. Cook them for three to five minutes. Fresh thin noodles cook very quickly.
10. Taste one to check it is done. It should be tender with no floury centre. Add them at the very end, off the heat. Use far more than seems reasonable. Stir them through and cover the pot. Let it stand two minutes before serving. It also stops the soup splitting. Use thick plain yoghurt instead.
11. Strain it through muslin for a few hours. Loosen it with a little hot broth first. Serve the soup very hot in deep bowls. Make sure each bowl gets meat, beans and noodles. Grind plenty of black pepper on top. Serve churek alongside for dipping. Leftovers keep two days in the fridge. Add more water or stock when reheating. Uncooked noodles dry well for storage.

Technique

• The beans are what distinguish unash from its neighbours’ noodle soups. Cook them separately from the noodles, since the two cook at very different rates, and they also thicken the broth and stretch a small amount of meat.
• Undercooked dried beans contain a lectin that causes severe vomiting and cramps. Discard the soaking water and boil hard for ten minutes before simmering. Mung beans carry considerably less than kidney beans, but the rule is worth following.
• Cook the noodles in the broth, not separately. Their starch thickens it, and that slight thickening is characteristic.
• Let the rolled sheets dry about ten minutes before cutting. Slightly dry sheets cut cleanly; wet ones stick together when rolled up.
• Season the broth more strongly than seems right before the noodles and beans go in. Both dilute it considerably.
• Add the herbs off the heat at the very end and use far more than seems reasonable. Cooking destroys their fragrance.
• Add the sour milk in the bowl, not the pot. It curdles in a hot pot, and adding it at the table lets each person judge how much. Loosen it with hot broth first so it does not seize.
• Traditional gatyk is made from naturally soured raw milk, which can carry bacteria that souring does not reliably destroy. Thick plain yoghurt strained through muslin is a close and safe substitute.
• Hand-cut noodle soups run across Central Asia — ugro in Tajikistan, kesma in Uzbekistan, lagman as the pulled-noodle cousin. The atlas records the family and adjudicates no origin claim.

Substitutions

• Beef replaces lamb and needs a similar simmer.
• Tinned beans replace dried ones; add them near the end and skip the separate cooking.
• Red beans, mung beans or chickpeas all work; mung beans are the most usual.
• A pasta machine replaces hand rolling and saves considerable effort.
• Thick plain yoghurt, strained, replaces gatyk or suzma safely.
• A vegetarian version with a good vegetable broth and extra beans is genuinely made.

Variations

• Tajik ugro is the close relative, with finer noodles and usually no beans.
• Uzbek kesma belongs to the same family of hand-cut noodle soups.
• A version with much more tomato gives a redder, sharper soup.
• Some households add potato alongside the beans, making a heavier dish.
• Lagman, with pulled rather than cut noodles, is the better-known regional noodle dish.
• A version served drained, with the broth in a separate bowl, is made in some homes.

History

Bean and hand-cut noodle soup, thickened at the table with sour milk.

Frequently asked questions

What is Unash?

Unash is a soup & stew from Turkmenistan: thin homemade noodles in meat or bean broth. Bean and hand-cut noodle soup, thickened at the table with sour milk.

How long does Unash take to make?

Unash takes 1 hour plus overnight soaking of preparation and 2 hours of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Unash?

Yes, within limits. Beef replaces lamb and needs a similar simmer. Tinned beans replace dried ones; add them near the end and skip the separate cooking. Red beans, mung beans or chickpeas all work; mung beans are the most usual. A pasta machine replaces hand rolling and saves considerable effort. Thick plain yoghurt, strained, replaces gatyk or suzma safely. A vegetarian version with a good vegetable broth and extra beans is genuinely made.

What is the most important thing to get right in Unash?

Drain them and set them aside. Heat the oil in a large heavy pot. Brown the lamb pieces in batches. Do not crowd the pot or it steams. Lift the meat out and set it aside. Add the chopped onions to the pot. Cook them until soft and golden. That softening takes about ten minutes.