Last winter my mom and I were talking about which types of Ash, Persian hearty soup, I should make and post.  One of the ashes that she mentioned that I should definitely make because it’s really good was Asheh Gojeh Farangi, Tomato Ash. I shrugged my shoulders at the thought and didn’t think about it much since even though I love tomatoes I am not a fan of tomato soup or tomato juice, for that matter.

Fast forward to this year, specifically this week. I had a 2 pound box of tomatoes that needed it to be used asap and for some strange reason the first thought that came to mind was Tomato Ash.   I was excited to find out that my grandma had this recipe in her little recipe booklet. I soon realized that I was going to need 3 times the amount of tomatoes I had at home.  Fortunately,  tomatoes at my local market were on sale for a whopping $.50 a pound, score!!!

Ingredients

2 cups onion, diced
1/2 cup onion, grated
1/2 lb ground meat
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 cup split peas
6 lb tomatoes
2 cups cilantro, packed
2 cups parsley, packed
2 cups mint, packed
1 cup green onions or Persian chives
1 bunch fresh spinach
1/2 cup rice
oil
salt & pepper

Small dice onion and saute in oil until translucent. Add turmeric and give it a stir. Add split peas, 3 cups of water, cover and cook for 1/2 hour.

Mix grated onion with ground beef. Season with salt and form into small meatballs.

Add meatballs to split peas, cover, and cook for another 15 minutes.

Rough chop herbs and spinach.

Add rice, herbs, and spinach to the pot. Continue cooking covered.

Remove skin from tomatoes. There is a very easy way to do this and I actually posted about it a little while back: How to Peel Tomatoes

Peel tomatoes and puree them in a food processor.

Add pureed tomatoes to the pot. Season with salt and pepper,  simmer uncovered on low for another 2 hours.  Make sure to gently stir the pot every so often. The idea is for most of the juices to evaporate so that the soup is not too watery.

Like any other ash, the more Asheh Gojeh Farangi cooks the better it gets. Your house will smell so good as this delicious and hearty soup simmers away on the stove.  This is actually a pretty easy recipe to make and it’s perfect for a cold winter day or night. The temperatures have cooled down considerably in So Cal and I can’t tell you how nice it is to have a nice hot bowl of this ash while outside is cold and foggy!!! YUM!