Ash-e reshteh
A Persian New Year soup in which herbs are the main ingredient rather than a seasoning — over half a kilo goes into eight portions, and chopped they fill the whole pot. The reshteh noodles carry meaning: by tradition the strands are the threads of fate, and eating them around Nowruz is meant to bring good fortune in the year ahead. The finish is kashk, fermented whey, which you can replace with thick yogurt.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Soaking the pulses 720 min
- Pulses 70 min
- Herbs 30 min
- Noodles 20 min
- Toppings 20 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneCook the pulses until tender
Cover the soaked chickpeas and beans with the water, bring to the boil and cook 50 minutes — the first 10 at a hard boil, because red kidney beans must boil properly to destroy their toxic lectins. Add the lentils and turmeric and cook another 20. The lentils go in later because they cook much faster — with the beans from the start they would collapse to mush.
Ingredients: 150 g chickpeas · 150 g red kidney beans · 150 g green lentils · 2500 ml water · 1 tsp turmeric · 2 tsp salt
Fry the onions dark and set some aside
Fry the sliced onions in 70 ml of the oil for 20 minutes over low heat, to a deep brown. Set aside a third for the topping and add the chopped garlic to the rest and fry for a minute. Fried onion is a separate layer of flavour here, not a background.
Ingredients: 250 g reshteh noodles · 3 pcs onions · 6 cloves garlic · 100 ml oil · 2 tbsp dried mint · 250 g thick yogurt · 1 tsp black pepper
Deep brown and crisp — a third goes on top.Chop the herbs, all of them
Finely chop whole bunches of parsley, coriander, dill and spring onion, and the spinach. The quantity looks absurd — that is correct. The herbs shrink dramatically in the pot and they give the soup its colour and flavour.
Ingredients: 2 bunches parsley · 2 bunches coriander · 1 bunch dill · 300 g spinach · 6 pcs spring onions
A whole pot of herbs — very little remains after cooking.Add the herbs and cook half an hour
Tip the herbs into the pot with the pulses along with the onion and garlic and cook 30 minutes, until the soup darkens and thickens. Season with the salt and pepper. The colour shifts from bright green to a dark, almost olive shade — as it should.
Ingredients: 2 bunches parsley · 2 bunches coriander · 1 bunch dill · 300 g spinach · 6 pcs spring onions
Add the broken noodles
Break the noodles into pieces and add them to the soup, cooking 12 minutes and stirring often. The noodles release starch and thicken the soup — do not cook them separately, as that thickening is part of the recipe.
Ingredients: 250 g reshteh noodles · 3 pcs onions · 6 cloves garlic · 100 ml oil · 2 tbsp dried mint · 250 g thick yogurt · 1 tsp black pepper
The noodles cook in the soup and thicken it.Temper the yogurt and stir half in
Whisk the yogurt with a ladle of hot soup and stir half of it into the pot off the heat. Tempering is essential: yogurt poured straight into boiling soup splits into fine grains.
Ingredients: 250 g reshteh noodles · 3 pcs onions · 6 cloves garlic · 100 ml oil · 2 tbsp dried mint · 250 g thick yogurt · 1 tsp black pepper
Make the mint oil
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, take it off the heat and add the dried mint, stirring for 10 seconds. Off the heat, because mint scorches instantly and gives bitterness rather than aroma. The oil turns green.
Ingredients: 250 g reshteh noodles · 3 pcs onions · 6 cloves garlic · 100 ml oil · 2 tbsp dried mint · 250 g thick yogurt · 1 tsp black pepper
Serve with the three finishes
Ladle out the soup and finish with swirls of yogurt, fried onions and mint oil. These three are not optional — they bring the acidity, crunch and aroma the soup itself, very thick and herbal, does not have.
Ingredients: 250 g reshteh noodles · 3 pcs onions · 6 cloves garlic · 100 ml oil · 2 tbsp dried mint · 250 g thick yogurt · 1 tsp black pepper
Before you start
Kashk instead of yogurt
Real kashk is fermented, dried whey with a sharp cheesy flavour, sold in jars at Persian grocers. It is distinctly more sour and salty — if you find it, use it, because the difference is considerable.
Reshteh noodles
Persian reshteh are flat, lightly salted and break down faster, so they thicken the soup more. Substitute linguine broken into pieces or soup noodles — avoid long spaghetti, which is hard to eat with a spoon.
It thickens in the fridge
Ash-e reshteh keeps three days and thickens to stew consistency — loosen with boiling water when reheating. Always add the toppings fresh, as onion and mint lose their character overnight.
