Asheh Reshteh is a delicious hearty soup that is part of the Norouz menu. Reshteh in Farsi means noodles. This soup is made with Persian noodles which are flat, similar to fettuccine, but slightly less wide. The noodles in this soup symbolize good fortune and success in the path ahead.
Just like any other Persian Ash, it is best when this soup is allowed to rest before it is consumed. It is perfectly OK to make it the day before or give it at least a couple of hours of rest before it is served so that the flavors better come together.
Some opt to use canned chickpeas and red beans for this soup. I have done this before to save time. However, I have discovered that cooking the beans from scratch makes a huge difference taste wise.
Asheh Reshteh is always a winner for the vegetarians and vegans that attend our Norouz gathering. Of course, the latter group will have the soup without the whey!
Ingredients
2 large onions, sliced thinly length wise
6-8 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 cup chickpeas
1/3 cup red beans
1/2 cup lentils
2 tsp turmeric
3 cups fresh parsley (packed – equivalent to 1 1/2 bunch)
2 cups fresh cilantro (packed – equivalent to 1 bunch)
2 cups fresh mint (packed – equivalent to 1 bunch)
20 springs of fresh chives or scallions ( green portion of scallions only)
1 1/2 lb baby spinach
2 oz reshteh
1 tbsp flour
Garnish
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
2 tbsp dried mint
kashk, whey ( sour cream can be substituted for kashk)
Soak beans for a few hours in water.
Sauté onion and garlic until translucent. Add chickpeas, red beans, and turmeric. Sauté for a few minutes together.
Add 8 cups of water. 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 reshteh into three sections and add to the pot.
Add spinach. You will need to add half of it first and allow for the first batch to wilt, then add a second batch. 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 kashk.
{ 44 comments… read them below or add one }
I add chicken broth in place of water. It makes it taste even better!
Maryam, that’s also a good idea. I usually use broth when using canned beans and chickpeas. I always use veggie broth for the vegetarians!
a beauty. i love this dish. we make smthg similar the Afghan way in our home. i am sure my grandmother made it your way, too and i only regret not having learnt it from her
yours looks GORGEOUS. x shayma
Good stuff. I haven’t had this in ages. Now I’m inspired to try it soon.
I’m assuming regular fettuccine will work if the Persian noodles aren’t easy to find?
@ Shayma, thank you for your sweet words. How is this dish made the Afghan way? I am totally curious to know how these dishes are similar and different at the same time.
@ Bria, yes, you can use fettuccine. You should make it, it’s so good.
last tme saw my mumshe gave me a box of these noodles as you can easily find them where she lives in France.And a month ago made ths ash,one of my favorite meals in the world.
I am a vegetarian and I love how so many iranian recipes are vegetarian.
This looks delicious!! I haven’t had Ash in AGES.. can’t wait to make it. Unfortunately where I live it won’t be easy to find Reshteh or Kashk. You think I can substitute Fettuccine? If so, should the cook time be different? Thank you so much for your blog! I love it and follow it all the time!! I just started my lentil sabzeh today! we shall see how it turns out
my first time ever!
Sara, thank you for your sweet comment. Yes you can substitute reshteh with fettuccine. I would throw in the fettuccine in the last 20-30 minutes of the ash being done. You can substitute kashk with sour cream.
Good luck with the sabzeh!
How many would you say this recipe serves?
Sara, Good question. If you are serving it on its own I would say it serves six bowls of soup. But if you are serving with the rest of Norouz dishes it serves more because people will take less soup to have room for the rest of the food.
How far in advance can you make this dish?
Kerri,
I would say one or two days. I usually end up making mine the day before…as any hearty soup, it taste even better the next day!
Thanks so much! I’ll be serving it with other dishes so I think it will be enough for about 10 people.
Oh I can’t wait to make this next week for sideh bedar….so excited:)
You know, I keep posting these great recipes of yours and a link to your blog on my Facebook page and inspire my friends to try making them too. Although I’m pretty close to Iran I don’t think I’ll find reshteh here, so fettuccine it is! THANK YOU:)
Birdette, thank you for passing on the blog! I am so happy that you enjoy reading my blog!!!!
Hi. How many servings does this recipe make? I am going to a Novroz potluck next week and I was hoping this recipe would produce enough soup for 8-10 people. Please let me know.
Mithuan, I would say this recipe is for 6 servings when served on its own. But if you are taking it for a potluck, then it should be enough for 8-10 people. Generally people will take less soup when there are other dishes on the table.
Hi! I made this dish for the first time and brought it to my mother in law’s. Once again, she LOVED your dish and ate with an appetite usually reserved for lumberjacks HAHAHA. Once again your recipe has impressed my extended family. I’m almost confident enough to make something for my extremely critical persian brother in law (I’ll let you know what I made and how it went)! I personally love your version of Asheh. I will make it again and again!
Heidi, you are rocking both your family’s world and mine!!!
Keep cooking and sharing your triumphs!!
I was in a Persian grocery store recently and came across in a cellophane package (like many herbs are sold) with kashk balls (?)…I was wondering, is this the same kashk as what is used in Aash Reshteh, and if so, how would one go about preparing it for use? Thanks!
Natalie, I believe you have to add hot water to dried kashk. I have personally not used them before, so I don’t know exactly how much water, but I would say enough so that it’s not runny.
If I have beans that I have cooked before and froze do I still add 8 cups or water or less?
Shy, no you don’t. The extra water is for the beans to cook in.
we are eating perisan food in sweden we have some friend from iran its nice
Hi, it says in the intro that this soup is good for vegans – but I thought reshteh were made with egg? Do you have an egg free one that you serve to your vegan friends?
@ Keely, to the best of my knowledge reshteh is not made with eggs….
I have obviously been making Ash Reshteh wrong for the past few years, because your way tasted SO much better! My old way only took 45 minutes, but the extra time from your recipe is so worth it and it looks so beautiful!! Thanks for sharing
I LOVE your site!
Ariana, thank you for your kind words, I am glad that you like my recipe! woohoo!
I tried making this soup yesterday. And believe it or not if found it much tastier than the ones made at persian restuarant. Thank you very much for sharing the recipe. I will definately make again!
I would really recommend soaking the beans and lentils prior to cooking. I had them soaked for about 5 hours. This helped in shorteninf the cooking process, and i found that it also helped the beans absorb the flavours much easier. I also used home freezed spinach. It tasted very much the same as the fresh leaves. I added a bit if cumin powder, white and black pepper to the soup during the first stage, just to intensify the flavours.
Do you chop the spinach too?
Sara, no I chop the spinach.
Hi..i want to ask what kind of lentil do u use in this soup?
Hi! Very nice blog you got here!
If I wanted to make the soup but eat it through out the week, how could I do onion/mint garnish? Would it be my best bet just to make the garnish to order every time I wanted to eat some? That’s not a big problem, but I was wondering if you knew a short cut around this? Or will it be fine just to store it properly and reheat properly? Thank you soo much!!!
Hi Sanam! I love, love, love your site, and Persian food! I plan on making asheh reshtah soon, and wonder if you can recommend a side dish to serve with this.
Tara, you can pretty much serve anything you want with Asheh Reshteh, there are not specific rules really.
Justin, you can definitely store and reheat as needed. The only difference in having it freshly made is the crunchiness of the onions.
The Asheh Reshteh was fantastic! My husband and I loved it, and a dear friend from Iran couldn’t get over how good it was! Thank you. I’ll be back for more recipes.
Your recipes are not only delicious but they come with wonderful pictures and details. I love this soup but rarely get to eat. So i ventured out to try and make it. Thanks to you everyone loved it in my persian armenian family including my fiances parents (which added some brownie points) .Im only 24 but a decent cook but its hard to find the recipes to these classic dishes. My grandmas idea of a recipe is by using her palm and two fingers as a measurement guide. Instead of saying a teaspoon of turmeric, she’ll hold out her index and middle finger together and proceed to show me the amount based on how far along her thumb is placed on the fingers. Anyway thank you again keep up the great cooking. P.s. if you can put up a recipe for “lavashak” (or as we call it for the fruit roll up type sheets) i would be in heaven!!!
Oooh just found the recipe yayyy thanks!!
Beez beez, so glad that I could help you gain some Brownie Points!!!!
Hi i really wanna make this for my husband this weeked.. Can u plz tell me what kind of lentil use in thissoup? Thanks..
Annie, I used brown lentils.
Wow such a great recipe with easy steps to follow. My dad loved this so much he ask that I make a whole pot just for him LOL!
Hubby couldnt believe the perfection of my first time Ash Reshteh beats even the restaurant authentic taste. It better taste the best because it was cooked from 3pm and was ready by 8pm. I must say Persian food will rinse your gas bill lol. Thanks to you darling, you made it possible with your simple steps and my Persian hubby is now the happiest bunny and this saves my inlaws bringing ingredients when they visit us and by the way they don’t believe either. Also I garnished with fried garlic as I remember mother-in-law does that. Xxx