Ash reshteh is a thick Iranian soup made with beans, spinach or beets, and pasta, often served during winter or New Year celebrations. It is cooked with water or broth, kashk, and spices, and can be decorated with fried onions, mint, and minced meat. Lentils and a variety of beans are used, and the pasta is broken into pieces. The dish is often prepared in advance to develop flavors.
Ash reshteh is a classic Iranian dish that is often prepared for New Year celebrations or served during cold winter nights. It is a thick, filling soup made from a variety of beans, spinach or beets, and pasta. The ingredients are combined and cooked together in a pot with water or broth until the liquid has reduced to a heavy, stew-like consistency. Just before the dish is completed, kashk is added to provide a creamy texture. When served, the soup is often decorated with designs made from kashk floating on the surface, as well as fried onions, fried mint, and sometimes fried minced meat.
One of the basic ingredients in reshteh ash is beans. The recipe usually calls for a combination of blue beans, kidney beans, chickpeas and lentils. Lentils cook much more quickly than other types of beans and are usually added after the others have started cooking. Beans should be soaked overnight if being dried to ensure they are soft, although canned beans can also be used.
Another important element in the dish is pasta. In Persian, “reshteh” is the word for “dough”. The exact type of pasta called for by the traditional recipe is unclear, because reshteh generally refers to whole pasta, but has come to refer primarily to thin spaghetti, not unlike Italian angel hair pasta. Reshteh is usually broken into pieces when added to the dish, partly to make it more edible and partly due to a tradition that it is good luck for future travels.
Ash reshteh is made by frying onions and garlic in oil in a pan. Once complete, water or stock is added to the pan and brought to a boil. Flour is added to the boiling liquid to help thicken the sauce; reshteh and any spices – such as mint, parsley and coriander – are also added. Everything is allowed to cook until the pasta is done.
The beans are then added to the reshteh ash, along with more liquid if needed. The entire mixture is simmered until the beans are soft and the liquid in the pot has reduced and become thick. The actual thickness of the final soup is left to the discretion of the cook, but can range from very runny to almost pasty. Finally, before cooking is finished, kashk, a type of whey similar to sour cream, is added.
The finished reshteh of the ash is poured into a bowl and any number of designs can be made on top with additional kashk. Fried mint can be sprinkled on top, as well as fried crispy onions or minced beef and garlic. Some recipes call for the ashes reshteh to be prepared a day in advance and kept overnight so the flavors have time to age and develop, although this isn’t necessary.
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