Ash-e Doogh

The yogurt is the liquid rather than a finish, so it is tempered before it is heated.

Lamb, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains lamb.

Ingredients

• 1 kg thick yogurt, or 1.2 litres doogh
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon plain flour
• 300 g minced lamb, rolled into small meatballs
• 100 g short-grain rice
• 150 g chickpeas, cooked
• 100 g spinach, chopped
• 60 g coriander, chopped
• 40 g tarragon, chopped
• 40 g mint, chopped
• 40 g parsley, chopped
• 1 leek, sliced
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 60 ml sunflower oil, and 2 tablespoons dried mint, to finish

Method

1. THE YOGURT IS THE LIQUID RATHER THAN A FINISH, SO IT IS TEMPERED BEFORE IT IS HEATED. This is what separates it from a stock-based soup. There is no stock in it: a kilo of yogurt, or the thin salted yogurt drink, IS the broth. Which means it has to be heated, and yogurt heated straight from the fridge separates into curds and whey within a minute. So it is stabilised first -- whisked with one egg and a tablespoon of flour until completely smooth, then brought up over a low heat, stirred constantly in one direction, until it is steaming and has thickened slightly. The egg and flour hold the proteins together. Only then does anything else go in.
2. IT IS STIRRED IN ONE DIRECTION AND NEVER COVERED WHILE IT COMES UP. Stirring back and forth and trapping steam under a lid both encourage it to break. Once it has thickened it is stable and can be treated as a normal soup.
3. IT WILL TAKE EITHER YOGURT OR DOOGH, AND THEY ARE NOT THE SAME STRENGTH. Its article notes that some make it with yogurt and some with doogh, as on its own page. Doogh is thinner and already salted and sometimes fizzy, so use half again as much by volume and hold back the salt until the end.
4. THE HERBS ARE FIVE AND TARRAGON IS THE ONE THAT MARKS IT. Its article lists coriander, leek, tarragon, mint and parsley. Tarragon against yogurt is the particular flavour of this soup and forty grams is not too much.
5. THE MEATBALLS ARE SMALL AND POACHED IN THE SOUP. Minced lamb rolled to the size of a cherry, dropped into the simmering soup for fifteen minutes. Browning them first would put fat and fond into a pot whose whole character is clean and sour.
6. THE RICE GOES IN RAW AND THICKENS IT. A hundred grams of short-grain, simmered twenty-five minutes. Along with the chickpeas it is what makes this a thick soup rather than a bowl of yogurt.
7. THE SPINACH AND OTHER GREENS GO IN FOR THE LAST TEN MINUTES. Its article also lists purslane, peas, onion and garlic among the vegetables.
8. FRIED MINT IS THE TOPPING AND IT IS NOT OPTIONAL. Its article specifies mint fried with oil, sometimes with garlic, as the topping. Bloom two tablespoons of dried mint in hot oil for ten seconds and pour it over.
9. IT IS MADE DIFFERENTLY IN DIFFERENT PLACES AND CAN BE MEATLESS. Its article places versions in Azerbaijan, Shiraz and Ardabil with differing but similar ingredients, and says it can be made vegetarian -- leave the meatballs out and add another hundred grams of chickpeas.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Iran · All recipes