Persian Noodle Soup // Ash-e Reshteh

Finally the fall season is here, oh .. I missed my summer time. Well, actually the weather still pleasant reached 70 F everyday, but we need a jacket to walk around off course. And this is a good time for soup :) to make you feel warm and healthy in the same time. So I chose Persian Noodle Soup, this soup is not look appetizing , but I tell you .. this soup is sooooo delicious and healthy. My daughter loves persian noodle soup, ahaa.. the easy way to feed her with vegetable. And don't forget spinach is a great choice to stay healthy.

According to my husband, Iranian loves to eat noodle soup for snacking ! oh.. not me or my daughter, this soup is a heavy soup, can fill you up for the rest of the day. If you decide to do some a little diet, just eat soup ... you wont be hungry anymore

Persian Noodle Soup // Ash-e Reshteh

Ingredients :

2 large onions, sliced thinly length wise

6-8 cloves of garlic, minced

1/3 cup chickpeas / garbanzo beans

1/3 cup navy beans

1/3 cup red beans

1/2 cup lentils

2 tsp turmeric

3 cups fresh parsley

2 cups fresh cilantro
1 cups fresh mint

20 springs of fresh chives or scallions ( green portion of scallions only)

1 1/2 lb baby spinach

2 oz reshteh - Persian noodle or substitute with linguine

1 tsp flour

salt & pepper for the taste

Garnish

1 large red onion, thinly sliced

2 tbsp dried mint

kashk, whey ( sour cream can be substituted for kashk)

Directions :

Soak beans for a few hours in water.

Sauté onion and garlic until translucent. Add chickpeas / garbanzo beans, red beans, and turmeric, salt, pepper. Sauté for a few minutes together.

Add 8 cups of water or stock . Season with salt, cover and cook for one hour.In the mean time rough chop all the herbs

Add lentils and herbs to pot. Cover and cook for another 1/2 hour on low. Stir the pot every so often during the cooking process

Break off noodle into three sections and add to the pot.

Add spinach.  Cook covered for another 1/2 hour. Make sure to stir the pot every so often.

Place flour in a small bowl. Take 3 tablespoons of the liquid from the soup and add to the flour

Mix well until there are no lumps. When adding flour to soups it is always a good idea to use this technique to ensure that there are no lumps in the soup.

Add water and flour to the soup. Adjust seasoning by adding salt. Cook for 1/2 hour longer on low. At this point your soup is ready as the beans should be cooked. You can further cook the soup to deepen the flavors, however, it must be on very low temperature, since this soup is very thick, chances are the bottom will stick.

For the garnish fry onions in oil. I have found that vegetable oil works best and the chances of burning the onions is much less. Once the onion turns translucent, lower the heat and allow for the onions to slowly caramelize

Once they have tuned into a golden color add dry mint and allow for the onions to crisp up. This takes about an hour from start to finish. It is best to prepare the garnish while cooking the soup .

Place soup in a bowl, add a pinch of fried onion to the center along with a dollop of sour cream if you like (or just skip like me :D )

Tips :

1. Since I have no patient with chopping vegetables especially cilantro and parsley, most the time I just put everything into the food processor, and voilaa... just a second, all the veggie chopped very nicely. 

2. Waiting for beans become tender is spend a lot of time, when I'm in rush i use can bean instead but add the beans near the end of the process so that they don't overcook