Aush Reshteh

The noodles go in at the end and the kashk is stirred in off the heat so it cannot split.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (kashk), dairy (yogurt).

Ingredients

• 250 g reshteh, or flat linguine broken into 8 cm lengths
• 150 g dried kidney beans, soaked overnight
• 150 g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
• 100 g green lentils
• 200 g spinach, chopped
• 100 g parsley, chopped
• 60 g dill, chopped
• 60 g spring onion tops, chopped
• 2 onions, sliced
• 6 cloves garlic, sliced
• 200 g kashk, as on its own page
• 2 tablespoons dried mint
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 100 ml sunflower oil

Method

1. THE NOODLES GO IN AT THE END AND THE KASHK IS STIRRED IN OFF THE HEAT SO IT CANNOT SPLIT. Two separate rules and both matter. The reshteh needs eight to ten minutes, no more, and it goes into a soup that is already finished -- put in early it swells, falls apart and turns the whole pot to paste, because these noodles are softer than pasta and there is nothing to stop them. And the kashk goes in after the pan is off the flame: it is a fermented dairy product and boiling it makes it seize into grains that will not come back together. Stir it through the hot soup and it melts into a smooth sour body.
2. SOME KASHK IS HELD BACK AND DRIZZLED ON TOP. Thin a couple of spoonfuls with a little hot water until it pours, and swirl it over each bowl. It is the way the dish is presented and it also lets anyone who finds kashk strong have less of it.
3. THE THREE PULSES ARE COOKED SEPARATELY FROM EACH OTHER. Kidney beans and chickpeas soaked overnight and boiled until tender, which takes them an hour and a quarter; lentils only twenty-five minutes. Cooked together the lentils are mush before the beans are edible.
4. THE HERBS ARE A LARGE QUANTITY AND GO IN RAW. Over four hundred grams of spinach, parsley, dill and spring onion tops, added to the finished pulses and simmered twenty minutes. Its article also allows coriander. They are not fried first -- this is not the fried-herb stew.
5. THE FRIED GARNISHES ARE PART OF THE DISH, NOT DECORATION. Its article names fried onion, fried garlic and hot fried mint. Fry the sliced onions slowly to deep brown and keep them crisp; fry the garlic separately until just gold; and bloom the dried mint in hot oil for ten seconds until it darkens and smells. All three go on at the table.
6. IT IS THICK ENOUGH TO STAND A SPOON IN. An ash is a thick soup and this one should coat the back of a spoon heavily. If it is loose, crush a ladle of the beans against the pan and stir them back.
7. IT IS VEGETARIAN AS WRITTEN AND BOTH ADJUSTMENTS ARE SANCTIONED. Its article says it is vegetarian and easily made vegan by leaving the kashk out, or that meat can be added. Without the kashk you need more sourness from elsewhere -- lemon or verjuice -- or it tastes flat.
8. IT IS A NEW YEAR SOUP AND THE NOODLES ARE THE REASON. Its article has it served at Nowruz and Sizdah Be-dar, and records that the noodles are supposed to stand for good fortune in the year ahead. It is cooked mostly in autumn and winter.

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