An Ash-e Reshteh recipe just in time for Nowruz - Ajam Media Collective (2024)

Ajam Media Collective

This article was written by a guest contributor and reflects the views of the author.

An Ash-e Reshteh recipe just in time for Nowruz
  • byAjam Media Collective
  • Posted on March 12, 2017December 3, 2020

Ajam Media Collective is pleased to present a four-part series of recipes to help you celebrate Nowruz on March 20th. Nowruz, which marks the beginning of Spring, is celebrated as the start of the New Year across Iran, Afghanistan, Kurdistan, Central Asia and the Balkans.

These recipes, compiled by Roya Soleymani, focus on Iranian culinary traditions associated with the holiday. We begin with Ash-e Reshteh, a warm and healthy soup filled with fragrant herbs, hearty beans, and delicious noodles. Click here for Roya’s recipes for nun nokhodchiand sabzi polo ba mahi.

Roya grew up an Iranian-American in Seattle and visits family in Iran annually. Some of her best memories in Iran have been cooking with her grandmother, taking notes and keeping the delicious family recipes alive for a cookbook she is currently creating. Follow her on Instagram @rmsoleymani.

***

Ash-e Reshteh

Serves 6
Cook time: 1.5 hours

Iranians commonly serve ash-e reshteh, or “noodle soup,” on Chahar Shanbeh Suri, a holiday that marks the last Tuesday night of the year. This year, Chaharshanbeh Suri falls on March 14th. Many celebrate by reciting poetry while jumping over bonfires, a symbolic ritual of giving one’s poor health to the fire while taking its good health. In Iran and in diaspora, Iranians make ash-e reshteh in large quantities, often making enough to share with relatives, neighbors and even strangers who happen to be passing by. A comforting dish, perfect for staying warm together while celebrating the nightly festivities.

Ingredients:

3 large onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ teaspoon turmeric
1 bunch spinach, finely chopped
1 bunch Italian parsley, finely chopped
1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
1 bunch garlic chives (can substitute green onions and chives), finely chopped
28 oz beef broth
1 ½ cups lentils
1 ½ cups chickpeas
1 ½ cups red beans
2 teaspoons salt
8 oz reshteh noodles
2 tablespoons dried mint
1 cup kashk (whey)
Vegetable oil
Water

Quick tips before beginning:

  • Pre-wash, dry and finely chop all the herbs.
  • Using canned chickpeas and beans speeds up the cooking process. If you don’t have canned beans, soak the beans overnight and add them at beginning with the herbs.
  • Vegetarians: substitute the beef broth with water.
  • Reshteh noodles can be found at Middle Eastern grocery stores. Linguini can be substituted.
  • Kashk, or whey, can also be found at Middle Eastern grocery stores.

Recipe:

  1. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a 5 quart dutch oven.
  2. Add the sliced onions to the oil and fry until golden. Take out 1/3 of the fried onions and set aside to use as garnish later.
  3. Add the minced garlic and turmeric to the onions in the pot and sauté for a couple minutes until the garlic is golden.
  4. Add the finely chopped herbs (spinach, parsley, cilantro, garlic chives) to the pot and lightly fry until coated with oil.
  5. Add beef broth and 14 oz of water. Bring to a boil.
  6. Cover and simmer on low for 30 minutes.
  7. After 30 minutes, add the lentils, chickpeas and red beans. Cover and continue cooking for 30 minutes.
  8. In a small pan heat a couple tablespoons of water with the dried mint on the stovetop.
  9. Add two tbsp mint mixture to the pot of soup, setting aside the remainder to use as garnish later.
  10. Break up the reshteh noodles in thirds and add to the pot with ½ cup of kashk and salt.
  11. Continue cooking uncovered until noodles are done. Add water as needed if the soup starts to get too thick.

Serve the Ash-e Reshteh in bowls and top with extra fried onions, mint and kashk.

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Ajam Media Collective

This article was written by a guest contributor and reflects the views of the author.

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An Ash-e Reshteh recipe just in time for Nowruz - Ajam Media Collective (2024)

FAQs

What is Ash Reshteh made of? ›

Ash Reshteh is no exception to the rule. A wholesome bowl packed full of Persian noodles ('reshteh'), kidney beans, chickpeas, green lentils, cooked with fresh herbs and greens and flavoured with kashk (a fermented / preserved food made with the whey left over from cheese-making).

What is a substitute for reshteh? ›

Substitute Reshteh for an equal amount of dried udon noodles or spaghetti. Sour cream can be substituted for the kashk, but kashk is such a unique taste that it is worth going the extra mile to get your hands on it.

What is ash in Iran? ›

Aush (Persian: آش), sometimes transliterated as ash or āsh, is a variety of thick soup, usually served hot. It is part of Iranian cuisine and Afghan cuisine, and is also found in Azerbaijani, Turkish, and Caucasian cuisines.

What is Nazri Ash stewed? ›

Ash is a category of thick soups that are sturdy enough to be one-pot meals and reshteh (“thread”) is the name for the flat wheat noodles that help thicken this soup. It's a popular dish to give as nazri, a food offering that people give and receive as a blessing.

How much protein is in Ash Reshteh? ›

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
Nutrition Facts
Servings Per Recipe 6
Dietary Fiber 17g62%
Total Sugars 11g
Protein 23g46%
11 more rows
Jan 30, 2023

Is Ghormeh Sabzi Iranian? ›

Ghormeh sabzi (Persian: قورمه‌ سبزی) or Khoresht sabzi (Persian: خورشت‌ سبزی), also spelled qormeh sabzi, is an Iranian herb stew. It is considered the national dish and is a very popular dish in Iran.

What can I use instead of stock in soup? ›

Water. This simple swap should suffice in most recipes that call for broth. To give H2O more depth, you may want to compensate by adding more spices like salt, pepper and bay leaves to your recipe and a tablespoon or two of olive oil to mimic the richness of broth.

What can I replace kashk with? ›

Growing up in Vancouver, whenever kashk was supposed to be used in a dish my mom would replace it with either yogurt or sour cream – if we were feeding our Canadian or American friends.

What is traditional Persian food? ›

Major staples of Iranian food that are usually eaten with every meal include rice, various herbs, cheese, a variety of flat breads, and some type of meat (usually poultry, beef, lamb, or fish). Stew over rice is by far the most popular dish, and the constitution of these vary by region.

What are the three types of ash? ›

In general, three types of coal ash (fly ash, bottom ash, and ponded ash) are generated from thermal power plants (Bera et al. 2007 ). Bottom ash is a collection of ash at the bottom of the boilers, and fly ash is assembled by automatic depositors from flue gasses in the top of power plants. ...

Is cremation allowed in Iran? ›

Cremation is prohibited under Islamic law because, unlike in some cultures, it is considered a violation of the dignity of the human body.

What do you serve at a Persian funeral? ›

At funerals, the guests are often served sweets or halva which is a mix of flour, oil or butter, sugra, saffron and rose water. Each city has its own version though.

What is the Persian mourning ritual? ›

In culture of Iranic ethnics

Bakhtiari women cut their hair during the mourning ceremony of their elders and trample their hair on the way to the cemetery (to bury the dead). Bakhtiari People call this ritual "Pal Borun". "Pal" means "long hair" and "borun"(cognate with "boran" in Persian) means "cutting".

What is a substitute for reshteh noodles? ›

The soup, served during the festivities leading up to Nowruz, the Persian New Year, wouldn't be the same without the soup noodles called reshteh, which are saltier and starchier than Italian noodles — though you could substitute linguine in a pinch.

What was the stone soup made of? ›

Stone soup is the name given to a wide variety of hearty meat and vegetable soups that stems from a European folktale about community sharing. Stone soup typically features humble but delicious ingredients like potatoes, peas, cabbage, and affordable cuts of beef or chicken.

What is the ash content of noodles? ›

The composition of noodles with 9% anchovy flour fortification can be used to increase the nutritional content of noodles with physical and chemical characteristics, namely 4,08% protein content, 0,38% fat content, and 3,11% ash content.

What is culinary ash? ›

Our juniper culinary ash is one of those simple yet remarkable ingredients that has the ability to increase the nutritional value of corn while reducing mycotoxins when used in the nixtamalization process. It may also be lightly dusted as a smoky edible finishing garnish to your foods.

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