Ash-e anar
A Persian autumn soup, often cooked for Yalda, the festival of the longest night of the year. Its colour comes from pomegranate juice and molasses, added only at the end. Three rules govern it: the quantity of herbs is absurd — a bunch of each, the meatballs must be marble-sized so they cook quickly and turn up in every spoonful, and in this version the acid goes in off the heat, since boiled it loses freshness and darkens.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Soaking the split peas 120 min
- Meatballs 20 min
- Split pea and rice base 45 min
- Herbs 25 min
- Onions and finish 20 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSoften the onion with turmeric
Cook the finely chopped onion in 2 tablespoons of the oil for 10 minutes, then add the turmeric and fry a minute more. Turmeric needs fat to release its colour and aroma — tipped straight into water it tastes raw and earthy.
Ingredients: 100 g yellow split peas · 80 g rice · 2 pcs onions · 1 tsp turmeric · 4 tbsp oil · 2000 ml water · 2 tsp salt
Cook the split peas and rice
Add the drained, soaked split peas, the water and 1½ teaspoons of the salt and cook 30 minutes, then add the rice and cook 15 more — 45 minutes in all. The peas should almost collapse — they are what thickens a soup containing no flour or cream.
Ingredients: 100 g yellow split peas · 80 g rice · 2 pcs onions · 1 tsp turmeric · 4 tbsp oil · 2000 ml water · 2 tsp salt
Roll marble-sized meatballs
Mix the mince with the squeezed grated onion, turmeric, pepper and the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt and roll meatballs the size of a marble. Squeeze the juice from the onion — wet, it loosens the mixture and the meatballs fall apart in the soup.
Ingredients: 300 g minced beef · 1 pcs onion · ½ tsp turmeric · ½ tsp black pepper
Marble-sized — small enough to cook through with the herbs.Add the meatballs and leave them alone
Drop the meatballs in one at a time and do not stir for the first 5 minutes. They must set on the surface; disturbed at once they disintegrate and leave a cloudy soup with meat in it.
Ingredients: 300 g minced beef · 1 pcs onion · ½ tsp turmeric · ½ tsp black pepper
Add the herbs by the bunch
Add the chopped bunches of parsley, coriander, mint and spring onion and cook 20 minutes. The quantity looks absurd and the soup turns dark green for a while — in Persian ash soups herbs are a vegetable, not a seasoning.
Ingredients: 1 bunch parsley · 1 bunch coriander · ½ bunch mint · 6 pcs spring onions
Whole bunches — in ash soups herbs are a vegetable.Fry onions dark for the finish
Separately fry the sliced onions in the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil for 15 minutes, until deep brown and crisp, adding the dried mint for the last 20 seconds. Onion with mint is the classic finish for most Persian ash soups.
Ingredients: 3 pcs pomegranates · 3 tbsp pomegranate molasses · 1 tbsp sugar · 2 pcs onions · 2 tbsp dried mint
Add the pomegranate off the heat
Juice the pomegranates — halve and squeeze them like citrus, or blitz the seeds and push through a sieve — keeping back a handful of seeds to serve. Take the soup off the heat and stir in the juice and molasses. Boiled with the soup, sour ingredients darken and lose their freshness — added at the end they give the ruby colour and a clear acidity.
Ingredients: 3 pcs pomegranates · 3 tbsp pomegranate molasses · 1 tbsp sugar · 2 pcs onions · 2 tbsp dried mint
Juice off the heat — boiled it loses colour and freshness.Balance the acid with sugar and serve
Taste and add the sugar a teaspoon at a time, until the acidity no longer stings but tastes pleasant. Persian ash should be sweet-sour. Serve scattered with fresh pomegranate seeds, fried onion and mint.
Ingredients: 3 pcs pomegranates · 3 tbsp pomegranate molasses · 1 tbsp sugar · 2 pcs onions · 2 tbsp dried mint
Before you start
The sweet-sour balance
Persian cooking builds flavour on an axis of acidity and sweetness rather than heat. The sugar here is not to sweeten but to round the pomegranate's acidity — add it gradually and stop when the soup tastes fuller rather than sweet.
Pomegranate juice, not sweetened carton juice
Three pomegranates give around 300 ml of juice. If using ready juice, choose 100 per cent with no added sugar and no apple juice — sweetened juices destroy the balance and the soup comes out bland despite the molasses.
Three days, but the colour fades
Ash-e anar keeps three days in the fridge and tastes better each day, but the ruby colour fades. Refresh it with a spoon of molasses as you reheat and scatter fresh pomegranate seeds just before serving.
