Ash-e Reshteh (Persian Herb and Noodle Soup with Kashk)

About This Recipe

Ash-e reshteh (آش رشته) is the most culturally significant soup in Persian cuisine — a thick, warming, deeply herby pot that has been made in Iran for centuries, especially at Nowruz (Persian New Year), during the month of Ramadan, and when a family member is undertaking a journey, as the reshteh (noodles) symbolise the threads of fate that lead the traveller safely home. The soup is built on a base of three types of legumes — chickpeas, kidney beans, and lentils — cooked until tender, then given body by thick hand-stretched noodles (reshteh), and made vivid green by enormous quantities of fresh parsley, coriander, spinach, spring onions, and dried fenugreek leaves (shanbalileh). The three-part topping is what elevates the soup from good to transcendent: crispy fried onions in turmeric, kashk (a thick fermented whey, intensely sour), and mint oil fried in butter. Each topping is added separately, swirled into the bowl at the table, so every spoonful has a different ratio of sour, crispy, herby, and earthy.

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 100 gdried chickpeas(soaked overnight)
• 100 gdried kidney beans(soaked overnight)
• 80 ggreen or brown lentils
• 200 gPersian reshteh noodles(or linguine broken into thirds)
• 200 gfresh spinach(roughly chopped)
• 1 cupfresh parsley(chopped)
• 1 cupfresh coriander(chopped)
• 4 wholespring onions(sliced)
• 2 tbspdried fenugreek leaves (shanbalileh)
• 1 tspturmeric(divided)
• 2 largeonions(one for the soup, one for topping)
• 3 tbspoil
• 1.5 tspsalt
• 1/2 tspblack pepper
• 150 mlkashk(fermented whey; available at Persian stores)
• 2 tbspdried mint
• 2 tbspbutter(for mint oil topping)

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the legumes

   Drain soaked chickpeas and kidney beans. Cover with fresh cold water in a large pot, bring to a boil, and cook for 40 minutes until nearly tender. Add lentils and cook 20 more minutes. Season with salt in the last 10 minutes.

2. 2

   Fry the soup onion

   In a separate pan, heat 2 tbsp oil and fry half the sliced onion until golden. Add 1/2 tsp turmeric and fry 1 more minute. Add this to the legume pot.

3. 3

   Add herbs and noodles

   Add the spinach, parsley, coriander, spring onions, and fenugreek to the soup. Cook for 10 minutes. Add the noodles, broken into thirds if using linguine. Stir well and cook 10–12 more minutes until noodles are tender. The soup should be thick — add water if needed.

   Ash-e reshteh thickens dramatically as the noodles absorb liquid. It should be very thick, almost a stew. Add stock or water in 1-cup increments if it gets too thick.

4. 4

   Make the crispy onion topping

   Fry the remaining onion in 1 tbsp oil over medium-high heat for 12–15 minutes, stirring often, until deep golden-brown and crispy. Add remaining turmeric, toss, and remove from heat. Set aside.

5. 5

   Make the mint butter

   In a small pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add dried mint and remove from heat immediately — the mint fries in the residual heat and becomes aromatic without burning.

6. 6

   Serve with three toppings

   Ladle soup into bowls. Drizzle generously with kashk. Scatter crispy turmeric onions over the top. Drizzle with mint butter. Serve immediately — the contrast of the three toppings is what makes this dish exceptional.

Variations

• •

  With meat: add 300g diced lamb or beef to the pot at the start, before the legumes, for a heartier version.

• •

  Ash-e jo (barley ash): substitute pearl barley for the noodles and use dried herbs throughout for a different texture.

Storage

The soup keeps very well in the fridge for up to 4 days and freezes for 2 months. Thin with a little water when reheating as the noodles absorb liquid overnight. Always make toppings fresh.

Frequently Asked Questions